


Silenced by the Lamb

by George James Valtom (GeorgeJamesValtom)



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Dystopia, Gen, Savage Nick Wilde
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-30 08:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 86,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6417046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeorgeJamesValtom/pseuds/George%20James%20Valtom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judy Hopps saw the mayor turn her best friend into a beast right before her eyes, just before he attacked her. Miraculously she survived - and ended up hospitalized for weeks. When she's finally released, she finds a Zootopia sliding towards disaster. With Bellwether one step ahead, Judy will have to find the allies and courage needed to save both Nick and the city she loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waking Up

 

* * *

 

Shouting. Flashes. Lights scrolling overhead. A jolt in her body. Pain. Such pain…

Judy cracked open her eyes. A lioness in a blue medical gown pushed the gurney as she stared straight ahead. Above her head passed plain white ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights.

“Make a hole!” The nurse yelled and waved a group of people aside. “Get every available doctor here, stat!”

“...Nick…”

It was all Judy could utter before she blacked out.

Shouting. Sharp teeth. Terror. Screams. A nasty grin. Thuds and yells…

“...waking up.”

“Alexia! Get that propofol, now!”

Judy could hear the whir of power tools. Her arm and neck felt stiff. She felt a prick on her hand, and before she could find out more she fell into darkness again.

She could see the red lights, hear the sirens again.

And yet not her - she was watching from someone else’s eyes. She was listening through someone else’s ears. Someone else was being dragged from the Natural History Museum.

_Hopps, it’ll be okay Hopps, it’ll be okay…_

Judy opened her eyes, finally falling back to reality to stay.

The first thing she noticed as she looked up were the plain ceiling tiles, just like the ones she saw before. She tried to lean forward and discovered she could not tilt her chin down. A large neck cast prevented free movement of her head. With a herculean effort she raised her right hand; her entire arm was trapped in a bright red cast. She sighed and let it drop — which sent a needle of pain up her shoulder. “Ach!”

This had gotten someone’s attention, because she heard an “Oh!” and the soft click of hooves to her left. A deer came into view. “Miss Hopps, are you awake?”

She moaned through gritted teeth.

“Oh dear, let’s see…” He came around beside Judy. “Let me make sure the IV’s still in…if you’re hungry, I’m sorry but no food right now. Doctor’s orders.”

“Nnnh…” Judy squeezed her eyes shut. She did feel hungry, but more urgently she had to know, “Nnnh…”

“Oh!” He lightly smacked himself on the forehead with his hoof. “Right, you’re confused. Okay, you’re in Zootopia Trauma Center. You’ve been here for two days.”

Judy’s heart leapt in terror at this revelation.

“My name’s Cedric, I’m going to be one of your nurses. Your doctor’s name is Susan Arti, she’ll be in soon I’m sure.”

Judy took it all in. She could feel her memory coming back, how she had ended up here, and suddenly she nearly leapt out of bed. Bellwether! What was she doing? She tried to speak, but found her mouth muffled by her cast.

“Calm down, calm down,” Cedric gently motioned with his hooved hands. “You’ve been through a traumatic experience, you’re not well. In fact it’s amazing you’re alive at all. A fractured neck bone, three broken limbs, a punctured chest cavity...if the ZPD hadn’t been right across the street — oh, that reminds me!” Trying to put on a smile he pointed to her right. She managed to tilt her whole body and glimpse a collection of cards and balloons and baskets on the table. “The ZPD sends their warmest regards, and they hope you recover fully.”

“Mm HMM!” Judy screamed.  

“Uh…” He looked around, and his eyes lit up. “Ah!”

Cedric grabbed a pad of paper and a pen from the table, and put the pen into Judy’s left hand, which had luckily been spared a full cast. He held the paper up, and she wrote: THE FOX! WHERE IS HE?

“Oh, uh…” The nurse looked around awkwardly. “Give me one second?”

He quickly clopped out the door, letting it shut behind him.  The silence at least gave Judy time to look around her room more. Managing to sit her entire body up, she could see a small television, nearly two decades too late in its design, sitting on a metal cart in front of her. The rest of the room was furnished exactly like she imagined a hospital room would look, down to the generic paintings of flowers on the wall. She had resigned herself to counting the tiles on the ceiling when the door opened.

“Judy Hopps?” A short round pig in a white coat came in, carrying a clipboard, and Cedric followed behind her. “Dr. Arti, nice to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

More muffled grunts.

“Right, right. Cedric?”

Judy took the pen again and jotted down: I’M FINE. WHERE’S NICK?

Dr. Arti read it, and looked at Cedric. They both gave a slow and solemn nod, sharing some understanding that Judy didn’t know, and it infuriated her.

“Judy,” Dr. Arti spoke softly, “you’re going to be okay. We’re going to help you sort out what he tried to do to you.”

_Sort out…?_ She gestured for the pen again. WHERE IS HE?

The doctor sighed. “He’s been detained, with the rest of the predators who’ve gone savage. The important thing—”

Judy stopped listening. Horrible images filled her head, Nick being pinned down by the cops, tased, muzzled—

“—psychologist in who will help to undo what he did to you.”

She started paying attention again just in time to hear these words. Her blood ran cold. WHAT DID HE DO?

“Ah…” Dr. Arti paused for a moment. “When Mayor Bellwether found you, she saw the fox threatening you, she said he was trying to brainwash you. And when the police came, you were shouting gibberish saying that it was Bellwether who had attacked. Whatever he did, though, I’m sure we can undo.”

The moment Bellwether’s name had been mentioned, Judy had motioned for the pen again. When Dr. Arti finally offered it back she snatched it out of the pig’s hooves and began scribbling: MAYOR LIED. NICK INNOCENT. NIGHT HOWLER FLOWERS. MAYOR BEHIND ATTACKS.

She underlined the last three words several times and pointed to them. Dr. Arti and Cedric just shook their heads sadly.

“We know, we know,” the doctor patted the top of her head. “We’ll take care of it, don’t worry.” She got up and began to leave.

_No! Wait! Stop!_ Judy screamed through her cast for Dr. Arti to believe her, but soon the coat went out the door and was gone.

“Here,” Cedric offered, “want to watch television?” Without waiting for her reply he switched the set on. “If you need anything else, just push the button there.” He pointed to a button laying by her arm, and followed the doctor out into the hallway. Judy could hear them conversing as they walked away; she could bet they were talking about her.

She looked up at the ceiling and squeezed her eyes shut. Her stomach felt like it was turning inside out, and her heart bawled in frustration. She had already betrayed Nick’s trust once, and now after just getting it back she had failed him again. He was locked up in some exam room, tied to a post, mad with rage, a shell of who he had been before.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to watch the program. The television had been tuned to Zootopia Public Access, and so for twenty minutes she watched Bob Hoss, the famous equine painter with a soft voice and bushy mane. At the very least it did help her forget about her helplessness. Unfortunately she was reminded again when the program went off the air, and the channel changed to the news report.

“Good evening Zootopia,” A brown panther opened the program. A large longhorn cow sat beside him. “This is ZPA Newshour, bringing you the latest updates on the biggest stories. I’m Cory Connor.”

“And I’m Tauren Bos. Our top story today, the city continuing to reel in shock at the attack on local hero Judy Hopps two days ago.”

There was a photograph of the police officers outside the museum, and a stretcher being wheeled into an ambulance while carrying a small grey body that Judy recognized as her own.

“Miss Hopps was an officer of the Zootopia Police Department up until a couple weeks before the attack, when she resigned because of undisclosed personal reasons. Her resignation came a few months after she had found the location of the fourteen missing mammals, and her well-publicized press conference linking traditionally predatory animals to a string of attacks around Zootopia.”

The footage cut to Judy at the press conference, the footage she’d seen so many times before. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore her own voice. “...something to do with their biology…reverting back...primitive, savage ways…”

Cory spoke next. “Witnesses have since come forward, claiming that the fox that attacked Hopps was actually seen arguing with her at the press conference. Some have speculated that his actions may have been motivated or triggered in response to her comments.”

“Outside the ZooTech medical labs,” the television cut to a scene outside a large building, “crowds of angry demonstrators are calling for the fox, Nicholas Wilde, to be formally indicted with assault and tried as a criminal.” Judy could see the furious signs and faces they bore. They chanted for him to face justice, for him to be handed over to the mob, for him to be strapped in the chair and fried the old-fashioned way.

“This recent attack, the most high-profile yet, has increased pressure on Mayor Bellwether to install additional security measures. Earlier today, she had these words to say:”

Now the footage cut to Bellwether standing outside the mayoral office doors, a dozen microphones shoved in her face. “Zootopia is a very special place,” she said, “and my goal is to preserve the grand history that we’ve built here. However, this epidemic threatens the very existence of our homes, of our great city.  Therefore, I will be creating a special agency tasked with bringing an end to this reign of terror that savage predators have brought about. This agency will both spearhead scientific research to determine the root causes of the savage reversions, and a frontline force that will be ready to counter the next attack as soon as it begins, hopefully preventing any more casualties. I hope that the city council will be willing to hear out my plans and give me the go-ahead to protect Zootopia.”

The screen went back to Tauren, and Judy began pressing the button for the nurse. “The Predators’ Caucus in the council did express concern over Bellwether’s choice of words, specifically connecting ‘savage predators’ with ‘reign of terror’. In a comment released to us, Representative Tina Gray stated that ‘it is irresponsible to apply blanket blame to all predators, and I’m disappointed that Mayor Bellwether has been insensitive with her rhetoric’. The rest of the council remains split on whether or not to support—”

Cedric came in. “Miss Hopps?”

She jabbed her finger at the pad and pen. She HAD to say something, she had to get out of here, she had to tell the truth. But Cedric’s eye gravitated to the television.

“Oh I’m so sorry, I forgot the news came on now!” He quickly crossed over and turned it off. “I didn’t mean to upset you, would you like me to put on a movie instead?”

Judy slapped her paw over her face, half-wanting to tear off her casts, and screamed.


	2. Visiting Hours

The door creaked open, and a pair of friendly faces entered.

“Mom, Dad,” Judy smiled. Her mouth had been freed the day before, but her limbs and neck remained in casts.

“Hey Judy,” her father waved weakly. “How you feeling?”

“Well…” she glanced at her own body.

“Right right, been better. Well, uh, Mom and I wanted to come and see you. You probably don’t remember, we came as soon as you were first checked in, but you were hardly even awake then! And we wanted to see you now that we can actually talk to you, so...here we are!”

“And we brought you a little something,” her mom showed off a basket in one hand, and a bright pink bunny balloon in the other.

“Aw, thanks guys.”

“Yeah, some of Grandma’s homemade carrot cake, your very favorite. It’s a good batch, you know how I can tell?”

“How?”

“Because your father ate half of it on the way over.” She elbowed him in the ribs.

“Wha — hey, I didn’t eat half! Closer to a quarter, maybe a third…” he trailed off. Judy chuckled, then winced at the pain in her ribs.

“Poor thing.” Bonnie set the gifts on the table besides the rest of the Get Well presents, and sat by her daughter. She shook her head sadly. “How did this happen?”

Judy felt a rush in her heart. “Listen, I know why. It’s not Nick’s fault, it’s the mayor, she’s been harvesting _Midnicampum holicithias_ and using the serum to target predators. That’s why animals are going savage, she wants to make prey afraid of predators!”

“Wait, what?” Stu shook his head. “But that doesn’t make sense, she worked with Lionheart for so long, why would she want to turn against predators?”

“She wants to use it to get power. Listen,” she gestured for them to come closer, “you need to get out of here and tell as many people as possible: Bellwether is behind the attacks. You have to stop her!”

“Judy, please,” her father motioned for her to calm. “Please, you’re...you’re not well.  I don’t see how—”

“Stu,” Bonnie stopped him. “Now Judy, listen to me. I know what the doctors are saying, but you’re our daughter, and I know you. You’re not stupid, and if you trusted that fox then there was a good reason for you to do so. For him to act like he did, after what you told us, it just doesn’t make sense. Something weird is going on. I don’t know if Bellwether is behind it—”

“But she is! You guys need to believe me!”

Her mother stared at her, then nodded. “If you think so, Judy...then we believe you.” And her tone was so genuine, so non-patronizing, that Judy almost began to cry. “But what can we do?”

“Just tell anyone you can! Anyone at all! The news, the ZPD, get it out there! Please!”

“Alright, we will.” She took Judy’s free hand it gave it a gentle squeeze, giving her best reassuring smile. Suddenly she remembered something, “Oh, Stu, make sure you call…”

“Right, right!” He fished his phone from his pocket. “Family wants to say ‘Hi’ to ya!” He opened MuzzleTime and put in a call, which was picked up. “Hey everyone!”

“Dad! Daddy! Uncle Stu!” A chorus of voices answered him.

“Guess who we got here?”

“JUDY!”

She laughed as she saw dozens of faces show up on screen, all waving and bombarding her with questions. “Hey everyone,” she waved. “I’m doing alright, I’ll be up and about soon enough. Don’t worry about me.”

“What’s that on her arm?”

“Make sure to eat lots of soup!”

“Look what I made for you!”

“Is it like a hotel there?”

“Have you seen any mad scientists?”

She laughed as she tried to sift through the cacophony. “It’s been pretty calm, really. The doctors are taking good care of me, don’t worry.  Love you!”

“Bye everyone!” Stu waved and ended the call. “They wanted to come, but the hospital won’t let us bring a family of several hundred.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded. “You know, Judy—”

Before he could finish, the door opened and Dr. Arti came in. “Excuse me? I’m sorry, but the psychologist came in and he’s on a very strict schedule.  I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“What? Oh, okay, hold on.” He patted his pockets, making sure he had his wallet and phone and keys, then looked around. “Gift, balloon, phone call...cards!” Stu snapped his fingers as he remembered, and went over the basket to pull out an envelope that had eight different cards stuffed into it; it seemed about to burst. “We had everyone get their signature down, see?” He pulled out one of the cards, which had a smiling rabbit on the front and the words “Get well soon!” When he opened and showed her the inside, every last inch had been covered with names . There was more ink than blank space on the paper.

“Aw, thanks.”

“I’ll just leave them here,” he stood the card up on the table and set the envelope beside it. “I’m sure you can get the nurse to set the rest of them up for you. Now, Bonnie, am I forgetting anything?”

“Mr. Hopps, Mrs. Hopps,” the doctor kept pressuring them. “Judy needs treatment.”

Bonnie nodded. “We’re coming, we’re coming.” She approached Judy and kissed her softly on the forehead. Stu did the same. “We’ll come back to see you sweetie, don’t worry.”

“Okay. And don’t forget, tell EVERYONE the truth! Please, I’m counting on you!”

“We will, I promise. Come on Stu.”

Judy watched as her parents went out the door. Dr. Arti nodded. “Dr. Albert will be in in a moment.” She stepped back outside, leaving her alone.

A few minutes went by. Judy could hear voices on the other side of the wall, some discussion unfolding. Then they quieted, and the door opened. A tall moose wearing a light button-up shirt, black jacket, and black pants walked in, carrying a clipboard. And right behind him…

Judy felt a jolt run through her body as Bellwether stepped inside too. Her breaths came quickly, anger flared inside her. Dr. Albert motioned to Arti. “Give us a few minutes, please Doctor.” The pig closed the door, leaving the three of them alone.

“What do you want?” Judy spat.

“What do you mean? Can’t a mayor visit the city’s hero while she’s on bedrest?”

“Can it,” she repeated, “What do you want?”

“Surely you don’t blame me for what happened? I called the ZPD to rescue you, I saved your life!”

“That’s a lie and you know it.”

Bellwether laughed. “Of course I know it! But nobody else does, and no one else is going to either.”

“Let me guess, you’re gonna finish me off?”

“Judy, you’re a smart bunny,” she crossed her arms, “but you don’t understand tact. I can’t kill you now. What will it look like? Mayor goes in to see stable hero, mayor comes out and she’s dead. Pretty suspicious, and I can’t have any of that.  I’ve already had people asking me funny questions.”

“So what then?”

“If I can’t kill you, then I have to do the next best thing: make sure nobody ever listens to you.”

“Ha!” Judy let a triumphant grin spread across her face. “Well it’s too late for that! I already told my parents, and they believed me, and they’re already on their way out of the hospital. And like you said, it sure would be suspicious to arrest a city hero’s parents, now wouldn’t it? And,” she remembered something, “the carrot pen! When you were giving me your monologue, I recorded the whole thing. The ZPD has it now, I bet. Your days are numbered, Dawn!”

“Hm, well,” she reached into her coat pocket, “you’re wrong on at least one count there.”

Judy’s heart fell when she recognized the carrot pen in Bellwether’s grasp.

“Hmm, let’s see what’s on here?” She pressed the play button. No sound came out. “Gosh! Someone must have accidentally pressed the button and recorded nothing. What a shame…”

“Well, my parents are still out there! And the second I get out of here, I’m gonna tell everyone I know the truth!”

“Judy Judy Judy,” Bellwether put the pen away again. “I don’t think you really understand what you’re up against here.  Here’s the thing: I’m actually leading the cure effort.”

Judy apparently wore her confusion well, because Bellwether grinned.

“Oh yeah, the Savage Predator Emergency Commission. It’s our goal to figure out exactly why these attacks are happening. Of course, we already know the answer, don’t we? Predators are just naturally big nasty animals, prone to go berserk at any moment.  All we need is some hard scientific evidence, procured one way or another, and I promise you we’ll let the whole world know exactly what we find.”

“No! I’ll tell them what’s really going on!”

“You really don’t get it, do you? I’m funding these scientists, which means I get to tell them which direction to look in. Not to mention I have a few friends, like Dr. Albert here,” the moose waved solemnly, “who will be helping things along. Now tell me, who do you think news stations are going to believe? A professional agency headed by me, who got a master’s degree in public health mind you...or you and your family, a bunch of farmers from the backwater? You’ll just be lumped together with the people who dig out bunkers and fold tinfoil hats.”

For once, Judy had no words. There had to be something…

“Oh, and in case you still think about mounting a campaign, remember this: I’m the _mayor_ of _Zootopia_. You open your mouth, and I’ll run a million dollars worth of TV ads that will refute your every statement.  And don’t think I’m against holding hostages; I won’t lock up your parents, but I can get them tax audits every year for the rest of their life, I can make them jump through hoops for agriculture permits, I can take them to court for slander and spreading misinformation against the public interest.”

Judy pictured her parents’ frightened faces, being handed a summons by animals in black, her brothers and sisters staring at an army of lawyers, not realizing what they were up against…

“Oh, and I nearly forgot my ace in the hole.” She laughed as she gestured to Albert, who pulled a photo off his clipboard and handed it to her. “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to him, would we?”

Judy felt like she knew what it was before she even looked at the picture, and sure enough, “Nick!”

His teeth were bared, his eyes wild with fury. Some officers were restraining him with a pair of leashes as he was being forced into a cell. His shirt had been torn, and his claws were reaching…

“Mm-mm, certainly a feisty one.” Bellwether sighed. “Don’t worry, he’s currently being quarantined with all the other savage predators. But it sure would be a shame if he tried to escape and we had to...take him down…”

“So help me,” Judy tried to lean forward, ignoring the pain that came from it, “if you touch a hair on his head…”

“You’ll what Judy? You’ve got nothing. You may have destroyed my lab, but I can and will rebuild it, and you have no way to stop me.  However loudly you scream your truth, I can scream my truth ten times louder.” Suddenly her menacing nature vanished. “But really, it’s not your fault. That mean old fox pulled the wool over your eyes, pardon my expression. That’s what dear Dr. Albert is here to help with. He’ll make sure that you get everything all straightened out up in that little head of yours. He’ll let me know when you’re all better, and then we can let you back out, how does that sound?”

“Do you want my honest answer?”

“Haha...no. I want you to give me the right answer, which is ‘Yes, that sounds great!’”

“I’m not going to play this game with you Bellwether!” If she wasn’t in a cast, she would have leapt up and seized the sheep where she stood.

“Fine then,” she began to back away, “then enjoy being kept here in the hospital. Until we see eye-to-eye, you’re not leaving these grounds. Dr. Albert,” she motioned to him, “practice your craft.” With a smug grin that made Judy’s blood boil, she left the room.


	3. Eight Long Weeks

_Hey, quick heads up, ZoneRobotNik, my beta reader for this, made me a lovely piece of fanart! Catch it on the first chapter of this story!_

* * *

 

“Tell me what you remember.”

Dr. Albert sat cross-legged in a chair beside her bed. Judy began to speak:

“I remember going into the museum, I had a silver case in my arm.”

“What was in the silver case?”

“The dart gun, and the Night Howler serum.”

“No, Judy. There’s no such thing, remember?”

She scrunched up her eyes in frustration. They’d been having this back and forth for days, and it was going nowhere. The doctor refused to let up, and Judy refused to budge. At least, she had to appear to not budge for now...

“Do you remember the fox threatening you?”

“No, because that didn’t happen.”

“You’re blocking again. Judy, you have to fight this — he’s rewired your mind, it’s up to you to put it back in order.” 

“Sure. HE rewired my mind.”

“I know it’s hard, but you have to accept I’m here to help you. I can help you put things straight again.” He made some notes on his clipboard, the antlers on his head shivering ever so slightly with the motion of his hand.  “Judy, our session is up, but I feel like we made progress today.”

“That’s what you said yesterday, and the day before.”

Albert did not respond as he stood up. He walked to the door, speaking over his shoulder, “Once you’re ready to re-enter society, I’ll clear your release. Don’t worry, we’ll get you healed up in body and mind.” With that he went out the door, leaving Judy alone.

* * *

 

That first week was hellish to Judy.  Constant pain plagued her every minute, but that didn’t bother her as much. What drove her mad was the knowledge that Bellwether was unfolding her plan second-by-second; the evidence rolled by every few days, with shouts and panics surrounding another new attack victim. Meanwhile she was stuck in a hospital bed.  Even removing the lamb from the equation, the fact that she couldn’t do anything got to her. She wanted to run around, jump off the walls, do some exercise, ANYTHING. Her doctor-ordered idleness made her feel anxious and gross. Day by day she could feel her body atrophying, but there was nothing she could do.

That is, she could speak to her nurses.  By the second week of her stay, she had them both pretty well figured out.

There was Cedric, a deer who seemed to have been here quite a few years. He was nice enough, but at times  _ too  _ nice to the point of patronizing. He would rarely put on the programs she asked for, which were usually the news; he insisted that other shows would be more relaxing. Plus, after the first couple days he always seemed rushed when he came into her room. He would administer the medicine, make sure she was alive, and then leave with as few words as possible. Never any malice, of course, but she often pined for some kind of meaningful interaction.

Her other nurse was a coyote named Travis, and he brought much more joy to her day. Whenever he brought her medicine, he would strike up real conversation with her, even briefly, which made her condition much more tolerable, even enjoyable at times. Travis even had his lunch break in her room several times, providing her with much-needed company, like he did now on her third week of bedrest.

“I don’t know how you eat that, “ she joked as she eyed the bug burger in his paws. 

“Hey, we all have our tastes. I, for one, don’t know how you eat nothing but plants all the time,” he grinned back. Then he paused. “I mean, I DO know how, I went to medical school after all, but...you get the idea.”

She gave a weak laugh (didn’t hurt as much that time!) and looked down at her tray. The vegetables either looked too perfect or were unrecognizable mush, but she had learned to stomach it.

“You know,” he spoke between bites, “things are really looking up right now. We’ve had less savage predator attacks the past couple weeks, makes the ER less hectic. And, good news for you especially, Dr. Arti looked at your X-rays. She said that you should be free to go in about five weeks.”

“Really?” On the one hand, Judy’s heart sank at the long stretch of time ahead of her. But still, she had a date to look forward to. “That’s great, thanks!”

“Yeah.  You just have to get cleared with Dr. Albert, and then we can discharge you.” He took another bite. “He’s a good guy, I’m sure he can patch you up in no time. Anything else I can get you?”

“No thanks, Travis.”

Travis had the best intentions, she knew, but she wished he could know the truth about what Albert was doing. Every session she tried her best to cling to her truth, THE truth she reminded herself, despite his efforts to pry it from her finger by finger. At the same time, she knew that if she hadn’t been converted by the end of her stay that she would be trapped in the hospital. Luckily she’d been working on a solution since the beginning of her time with Dr. Albert. By the fourth week, she began to make progress.

“What do you remember?”

Nick and her running for the ZPD. “I’m in the museum…” Bellwether coming towards them, speaking in that sweet soft voice. “The fox has me tied up, threatening me…” The dropping horror, the connection made between Bellwether and the lab. “It’s all so foggy, I’m sorry…”

“That’s alright, Miss Hopps. You did very well today.” He got up, bade her farewell, and left. As soon as he disappeared she began to chant to herself:

“Bellwether’s the villain. Nick’s your friend. Bellwether’s the villain. Nick’s your friend…”

Thus she kept two realities in her mind: the mask that she presented to Dr. Albert, and the reality that she hoped her mask would not smother.  Judy measured bit by bit how much she “progressed”, making sure to not go too quickly while also being able to get out as soon as soon as possible.

Between hoodwinking the psychologist and her visits with Travis, she managed to keep up something resembling a life. It was week five when she was calling her family, Travis holding up her phone for her. “Hey everyone!”

“Hi Judy!” “Hi!” “Hello!” “How’s it going?”

“I’m doing alright. What about all of you? Is everything okay?”

They gave her their reassurances, and she relaxed. Her parents had caught onto her anxious check-ups, and when she explained what was happening they promised to not cause any trouble. So far, it seemed it had worked…

“Oh, Travis,” Judy remembered, “say hi!”

“Oh, sure!” The coyote turned the phone around in his paw. “Hey everyone!”

“Hi Travis,” Bonnie said. “How are you doing?”

“Well, good enough, considering what’s going on.”

Judy’s ears perked up at this. “Wait, what’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing. I just meant some family stuff going on.” But there had been a momentary look of alarm, a realization that he’d made a mistake and needed a cover-up. 

“Well, listen Travis,” Bonnie’s voice came through. “I want you to know, no matter what, that we appreciate you taking such good care of our daughter.”

“Oh! Thanks, I mean, I’m just doing my job…”

“You’re doing it very well, thank you.”

“Aw,” he smirked sheepishly, “I mean...thanks.”

After a little small talk, Travis disconnected the phone and set it beside Judy’s table. “Anything else?”

“What’s going on?” she insisted. “There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”

“No, not at all.” He gave what she could easily distinguish as a fake smile. “It’s fine.” That was all she could get out of him. 

The sixth week crawled by. A couple of times she heard the rush accompanying a new attack by a predator gone savage, and she continued to feed Dr. Albert lies. At the same time, she noticed the way that Travis talked become a little more stressed, a taut feeling eating up his personality. He refused to open up, until one day he came in for their shared lunch.

“Dr. Arti said you should be ready to take off the casts in another week or so.”

“Oh, perfect!” She spoke as cheerily as she could. 

“It’ll be great to have you up and going again, maybe you can...you know, get back into the force?”

“I hope so.” Something about his statement seemed off though, and he seemed a little glum. “You alright?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I’m fine,” he gave a small chuckle before relapsing to seriousness. “You know, you’re a big hero, for saving those mammals.”

“Oh, thank you.” 

Travis nodded, looking at his food. “A lot of people looked up to you.” He took a small nibble. “Still do.”

Judy began to see where this was going. “Are you upset about what I said at the press conference?”

“No, no, I promise.” He smiled. “You were just stating the facts of the case, right?”

Silence between them, only broken by the crinkle of the wrapper on his sandwich. 

“Judy?” Travis’ voice was soft. “I’ve...I’ve taken good care of you, haven’t I?”

“Of course!” She tried to adjust herself in bed, it was easier to do now. “Travis, it always makes my day when you come in.”

“I don’t...intimidate you?”

“No, not at all! One of my best friends is a predator, and honestly I think you’re a wonderful nurse.”

He buried his face in one of his paws. “T-thank you, Judy.”

“Travis, please, what is happening? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, I’m happy,” his voice cracked. “I guess, I...I did what I wanted.”

“What’s that?”

He took a deep breath. “Prove to you that predators can still be nurturing.”

Judy felt taken aback. “But of course they can be! Whoever said—”

“They play that footage every day,” he croaked. “They talk about what you said, they debate and they always reach the same conclusion. And I looked up to you for what you did, and to just feel like you...you don’t…”

She guessed his words. “No, Travis, I do like you! Listen, what I said was stupid, but I don’t hate predators, I promise! And I promise, from the moment I saw you I didn’t feel the least bit afraid of you.”

He didn’t move for a moment.  Then without looking up at her eyes, he gently took her paw in his own and gave it a firm squeeze. “So many things are happening. Too many to explain. I hope you can get out of here and tell the truth, because right now they’re using your words against all of us. I’m sorry about this, I’ve just been wearing down, and I just felt like you would hate me, but...” He took a deep breath. “Thank you, Judy.”

Judy wanted to get out more than ever now, the pain in his words eating at her. The night passed, and then the next day dawned. It was noon when she suddenly heard shouts in the hall.

“—actually supporting her!” It was Travis. “I told you what her policies are doing to us, and now you’re just blindly swallowing what you’re being told to do!”

“It’s in the interest of public safety,” this was a different voice, “and you are not making a very good counter-argument through your conduct. The law is the law.”

Travis roared in frustration.  Judy heard two loud bangs against the wall. Hooves on the ground. A few minutes later, the door opened to reveal the coyote, clearly still emotional. 

“Travis…?”

He sniffed, and in a huff crossed the room. With trembling paws he measured out her medicine, nearly spilling it as he tried to give it to her. He adjusted her sheets, fluffed her pillow, made sure all was well, and left the room without a word.  

The next day, his presence was replaced with a camel named Howard, who again did only the bare minimum to keep her functioning, but did not otherwise interact with her. Judy did not see Travis again.

* * *

 

Two weeks later, she tenderly rubbed her arm — finally freed of the cast, her fur could breathe again. She could MOVE again, and within a few days she was trying to jog tight circuits around her room. Judy was in the middle of such exercise when Dr. Albert entered. He carried a silver briefcase.

“Miss Hopps,” he sat in the chair while she returned to her bed. “I’m here to make my final assessment. To ensure the accuracy of my results, I would like you to wear this for me.”

He opened the case and pulled out a cuff and a mess of wires, as well as a small laptop. Judy recognized the set-up as a polygraph lie detector test. Her heart skipped a beat, but she quickly calmed herself. She’d read all about these at the academy, including how they could be fooled. Dr. Arnold began to hook her up to the machine. Judy did not resist.

He finally sat down and took the computer in his lap. “This will be very easy. I’m just going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer them truthfully. Is your name Judy Hopps?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “Have you ever lied before?”

“No,” as she she said it, she bit her tongue. She knew it was a bait question, to see what someone’s physical reaction was to lying. The pain of biting her tongue would spike her vitals and throw off the readings, hopefully…

“We have come a long way over the past couple months, and I’m eager to see how you’re doing. Can you tell me what happened in the museum?”

“Of course,” she closed her eyes, pictured the real version of events, and began to recite: “I was kidnapped, taken to the museum by Nick Wilde, where he tried to force me to recant my presentation at the press conference. Bellwether happened to find me, and saved me.”

Dr. Albert nodded again, watching the screen. “What is your opinion of the fox, Nicholas Wilde?”

“Just...confused. I don’t know why he’d try to brainwash me like that.”

“Have you ever disrespected your parents?”

“No.” Again, she bit down on her tongue. 

The questions continued in this way for about fifteen minutes.  Finally he said, “The test is over. Thank you Miss Hopps.”

“Well?” She held her breath.

“Well,” he gave a small smile, “it appears the treatment has been successful.” 

She breathed a sigh of relief, smiling as the blaze of victory lit within her.

“You are free to be discharged from the hospital,” he concluded. “I hope you will enjoy returning to your life.” After stowing away the polygraph test, he stood and turned, heading out the door. 

For the first time in eight weeks, Judy also went out the door.


	4. Release

_Sorry for my absence, I had a severe crisis this past week. I will be returning to my regular weekly posting now._

* * *

"Please call us if you need anything else, Miss Hopps. Have a nice day."

"Thank you, you too." Judy walked out the doors of the lobby as fast as she could without outright sprinting. She followed the sidewalk to the road and got her bearings. The hospital was on Flock Street...looking around, Judy could recognize the skyline of Savanna Central. Right now, she had two priorities in her head: find Nick, and stop Bellwether. With a deep breath, she turned her path towards the Zootopia Police Department. If she could just get Chief Bogo to hear her out, they could storm the capitol building today and the whole mess would be ended.

Judy was so focused on her thoughts that at first, she didn't notice anything strange. In fact she'd gone almost a whole block before she was snapped back into reality by someone excitedly greeting her.

"Officer Hopps," a porcupine had her paw in his, shaking it, "it's a real honor, I'm so glad to see you up and about again, and I just want to say thank you for having the guts to stand up and finally tell the truth about what's going on."

"Oh, uh…" she wasn't sure what was going on, but she forced a smile. "Thanks, yeah. Although, it's not Officer Hopps anymore, just Judy."

"Aw, you should get back on the force. Give the chompers a piece of your mind." He clapped her on the shoulder with a broad grin. "It was an honor meeting you!" With that he went on his way, Judy staring after.

As she continued walking again, she began to pay attention to her surroundings. Over the next minute she passed by a giraffe, a herd of wildebeests, and a line of lemmings. All of them greeted her amiably, and the giraffe even gave a small salute. She also passed by a bear and a mongoose...but their reception was far colder. The mongoose in fact completely ignored her, running into her with his shoulder. As she kept walking the pattern repeated. Prey smiled and waved, predators glowered and stayed silent. The source of the praise and condemnation? Judy wasn't certain, but she had an idea on what it was…

Judy had just crossed Elm Street, making her way past the steps of Zootopia Central Grade School, when the sound of yelling made her ears twitch. The school was a single monolithic building, with a set of large glass doors opening out onto the steps down to the road. Out of these doors came a mother armadillo, dragging her son behind her.

"But Mom! I got a test tomorrow! I can't just leave!"

"Archie, you are not going back to school until the teachers and principal can learn basic safety!"

"But what about my friends?"

"I am going to talk to your friends' parents, and I'm sure they will be leaving school too!" With that she opened the door of her car and directed her child to get in. Judy watched the exchange intently. She didn't have her badge, but she felt her curiosity rouse. Judy jumped up the steps and pulled the glass doors. They opened up to reveal the front office, with a front desk currently unstaffed. She heard a rousing argument going on off to the left, where a sign indicated the principal's office.

"-is the law, Theo."

"So that's it then? Instead of holding your head high, instead of choosing the right side of history, you're going to roll over and give in? Because 'it's the law'?"

"Please, we've already had seven parents withdraw their children over this, I don't think we can keep it up anymore. I'd love to keep defending your case, but the legal fund's already running thin, and the publicity is—"

"Oh, of course, the PUBLICITY. You're willing to break a contract, fire a tenured teacher, to avoid PUBLICITY!"

"Theo, it's affecting the students." There was a pause. "If you cared about their education you would recognize that it's hard for them to see their school all over the news."

Theo didn't reply to this.

"And look, as much as I support your cause, I don't know how we can win this. Maybe it's better to just go with things for now, and try to figure out—"

"Go with things? That's easy for you to say when you're not the one who's being fired! You're not the one being torn down by the law! How can you—"

They kept going at it as Judy slowly backed away and out the door. "The law…" she whispered. She turned and continued down the street at a brisker pace than before. At the same time she pulled out her phone and began to look at the news. "'Prim Pawdashian gets Married Again', ugh, no."

Judy grumbled as she quickly flicked to the bottom of her news feed, starting with the stories from weeks ago. "'Hero Cop Mauled by Fox in Museum'..." She kept scrolling up, trying to pick out the most important headlines. "'Mayor Announces New Plan to Stop Attacks'...'New Director of Emergency Commission Selected'...'Outrage over Executive Order Barring Predators'— wait what!?"

She tapped the headline and pulled up the article. Her eyes read and re-read the document in disbelief.

"Mayor Dawn Bellwether of Zootopia issued an emergency declaration last evening, requiring public facilities serving 'vulnerable' populations to immediately lay off all predator staff. These facilities include medical practices and elementary schools, as well as emergency services like police and firefighters. Bellwether justified her act by stating 'the ill and the young are at special risk in the event of a predator going savage. As much as it pains me to take this action, I couldn't live with myself if a tragedy were to occur that we can prevent now.' The order is expected to be challenged in court, but will take effect immediately."

Judy checked the date. The article had been published a little over two weeks ago. She thought back to Travis…

She kept going through her news feed until another article caught her attention: "Platforms Clash in Mayoral Election." Before she could begin reading though, she found herself distracted by chanting. Judy had wandered into the plaza surrounding the police station. Between herself and the doors, there was a tram line, with a cab running across as she watched. Between herself and the tram, a huge crowd of animals gathered around a makeshift podium. A tiger in a sharp suit addressed the audience, which responded with calls of "Tina! Tina! Tina!" Their signs echoed their words, with simple phrases like "TINA GRAY 4 MAYOR" and "VOTE TINA, NOT FOR TYRANTS".

"My fellow Zootopians," Tina Gray spoke, "as you know, in only a couple of weeks we face a grave challenge: to rescue our city from the jaws of ignorance and fear. Bellwether has only been in office for a few months, and yet look at the harm she has already done to the people! If I admire her for anything, it's for how quickly she moves…" The bitter sarcasm prompted short laughs from the audience. "She was never elected mayor and she never will be. It's up to us to march to the voting booths to let her know that Zootopia will not stand for labeling and intolerance. I, Tina Gray, will do everything in my power to both prevent further attacks and undo the damage that Bellwether has wreaked upon us."

There was a cheer from the crowd. Judy skirted around the outside, trying to avoid catching anyone's eye. She spotted several prey animals in the group, and just as many predators.

"And I also promise you, that the first thing I will do when I walk through the doors of City Hall, is reform the Savage Predator Emergency Commission, and…" she paused to let the group quiet down from their hurrahs, "and I will begin by personally escorting Clive Hoofer from the premises altogether!"

An even louder round of praise went up at this. Judy caught the name, and locked it away to research later. Eight weeks, so much had changed and she barely knew where to begin piecing the picture together. The tiger then began moving onto economic initiatives, just in time for Judy to move out of earshot and up the steps of the ZPD.

She entered through the spinning glass doors and immediately approached the reception desk. With a pang she remembered Clawhauser sitting there, with all of his Gazelle merchandise surrounding him, always having at least three different snacks within reach...now he'd been replaced by a zebra, who did not look away from his computer screen as Judy came close.

"Uh, excuse me? I'd like to talk to Chief Bogo?"

"He's busy right now. Come back later."

"Please, it's important."

"Well, his work is also very important. Come back later."

She sighed. "Alright. Can you just let him know that Judy Hopps stopped by?"

The zebra finally tore his eyes from the screen and looked at her. "Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't realize…" He leaned over and pushed the call button. "Chief? Judy Hopps is here to see you."

"Hm?" His voice came through the speaker. "Send her up."

"The chief's waiting for you," the zebra returned to his screen, and Judy began climbing the stairs. A minute later she was opening the door to his office to find him sitting at his desk.

"Hopps, please," he gestured to the open chair in front of him. "Sit down."

Judy jumped up into the seat and sat, the chair dwarfing her.

"I assume you've healed up just fine?"

"Yes sir, I'm up and around again just as much as I was before."

"Good, good. Well, I had a feeling you would be coming my way again."

"You...did?"

"Mhm, with your fighting spirit I knew you'd be back." Bogo nodded. "And if you want to be reinstated on the force, I'd be more than happy let you back on."

"Back on the force? No, that's...that's not what I was looking for."

Now it was Bogo's turn to be confused. "Oh. With what you've been saying the past few weeks, I thought for sure you were itching to get back in...but then, why are you here?"

"Chief, I need you to listen to me. Bellwether has been lying. She's the one making predators go savage, and I was actually on my way to tell you when I was attacked. If we can go to botany shops and get their receipts over the past several months, I can show you."

Bogo looked down at his hooves, clasped on his desk. His face was unreadable. "Listen, Hopps, thank you for this tipoff, but—"

"Chief?" The speaker on his desk crackled; it was the zebra again. "Mr. Hoofer just walked in and he wants to see you."

Bogo groaned. "Send him up."

Judy leapt to her feet on the chair. "Chief, please, you need to hear me out!"

"Sit down Hopps. We can continue our conversation after Clive leaves. He should only be here for a moment, if we're lucky."

"But Chief—"

"And for God's sake, keep your mouth shut. Let me talk."

They sat in silence for a few moments before the door opened. "Chief Bogo?"

"Mr. Hoofer."

Judy turned in her seat and saw Clive Hoofer come in. He was a goat with short curled horns and a scruffy beard that fell down to his chest. His fur was mottled black and brown, and he wore a sharp business suit. He caught her eye and broke into a grin.

"Ah, and Judy Hopps. How pleasant to run into you. I was just informed of your release, it's good to see you rejoin us here."

"So," Bogo got his attention back, "what do I owe the pleasure of a personal visit?"

"Ah yes. You see, I've been worried about the lack of security in different parts of the city. The residents of Little Rodentia, especially, have been voicing complaints about how rarely patrols seem to come around."

"I can tell you right off the top of my head that we have officers circle the perimeter every fifteen minutes."

"Yes, that's great, but…would it be possible to upgrade that to stationary, permanent guards?"

"We are already understaffed as it is," Bogo leaned forward. "It hasn't been easy after all, since you barred half of my officers from entering the building."

Clive ignored the barbed words. "I simply don't see why you can't divert resources from lower priority sectors to protect the prey population."

"We already are," Judy could see his hooves clenching in frustration. "And we're also already seeing a rise in crime rates."

"Listen, Bogo," Clive stood right at his desk and looked across at him, "when you've studied public policy as long as I have, you come to understand that in all decisions, there are winners and losers. Our job is to prioritize, and I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that predators are more than able to look out for themselves. What else are the teeth and claws for?"

Bogo didn't answer, but Judy could see frustration burning in his eyes.

"Anyways," Clive looked back at Judy. "What are you doing here?"

Bogo answered before she could open her mouth. "We were just discussing employment opportunities. In fact, if we could return to our discussion, I can give you the proper time you deserve afterwards."

"Please, you have to understand I'm a busy goat. Between managing research and trying to keep security at the forefront, I have a tight schedule."

"So do I. I promise, Hopps and I will only be a minute."

CIive looked at her again, then back at Bogo. "Very well." He trotted out of the room. Bogo waited until the door closed before he spoke again.

"Hopps, listen to me. The past few weeks have been hard on you, I know that. Bellwether circulated a notice about your condition."

Judy felt a knot in her stomach. No, this couldn't be happening…

"I know it's confusing for you, but I think for the moment you should rest. Take a week off, relax in your apartment."

"No, Chief, you don't understand!" She stood on her toetips, leaning off the chair and bracing herself on his desk. "You have to believe me, Bellwether is behind—"

"Hopps." The tone in his voice silenced her. "Go home." With a huff he nodded, indicating the end of the matter.

Judy stared into his stern eyes, the eyes of the person who had been her best hope for stopping Bellwether...with a sigh, she dropped her gaze. "Fine." Her ears drooping down against her back, she climbed off the chair and headed for the door. Just as she reached up for the doorknob, she turned back. "Can you at least tell me something? Why is everyone either congratulating me, or hating me?"

Bogo looked at her curiously. "Well, with what you've said, I don't know why you're surprised. They've been playing it all over the news."

"The conference, alright, but it wasn't as bad back then! What's going on?"

"Well, yes, the conference, but...you really don't know?"

"No!"

Bogo pulled out his phone and began to tap it. "According to the news, when you were in bedrest you seemed to, as one pundit said, 'come to your senses' about predators."

Judy felt her blood run cold. All of the lies she had fed Dr. Albert, everything she had told him just to get out of his grasp...it had been plastered all over the city.

"You said you believed predators to be inherently dangerous, and that the fox had been leading you on for weeks?"

"I...I said those things, but I didn't mean them!"

Bogo nodded one more time. "I understand Hopps. Go home."

"No really, I didn't mean them! I was just saying them to get out of—"

"Not another word." With that, he pointed for her to leave.

* * *

Judy couldn't bring herself to look anyone in the eye as she wandered into Sahara Square. It was all falling to pieces. Everyone thought she hated predators, and the moment she tried to say anything everyone would assume she was experiencing the remnants of her indoctrination. She had relied on the ZPD to be her ace in the hole, then one fell swoop that could cuff Bellwether before she had a chance to retaliate, and now that was gone.

With a sinking heart, she stopped and looked at the building front of her. It was a large round white structure, surrounded by a plaza with palm trees. Judy felt like she had been sucked into a science fiction movie as she stared at it. A sign by the entrance labeled it "Zootopia Institute of Technology Medical Laboratories".

Inside of this building, Nick Wilde was rotting in a cell.

Private guards stood at the doors, making sure no one came in or out without permission. Judy doubted she could even set foot on that side of the street without being confronted. She folded her arms and shivered as she imagined dozens of predators inside, driven mad by the Night Howler toxins. She could picture Nick...

"I'll get you out of there," she muttered. "I promise."

She didn't say a word to anyone as she returned to her apartment. Even her landlady, who gave her a bright "Welcome back!", she greeted with only a soft groan. Judy climbed the stairs, fumbled with the keys, and opened her door, stepping inside. The room was just the same as she had left it.

Except for the envelope on the ground.

Judy paused, then picked it up. There was no name on it except for her own. She opened it and pulled out a piece of folded paper. She read:

_Judy Hopps,_

_If you are content with the current state of affairs, feel free to ignore this letter. We will not bother you again. If instead you do not support Bellwether, come to Haymarket in the Rainforest District at midnight tonight. If you want to save Nicholas Wilde, you will accept this one-time-only offer. If you want to help Zootopia, you will heed our message._

_L + P_


	5. Decisions

The apartment was bare — the last time Judy had seen it, she had been intending to leave Zootopia for good. Of course, now that she once more had unfinished business in the city, she had arranged to take up residency again. Her possessions were being moved (yet again), so she had nothing but her desk and bed. Judy sat on the latter, clutching her arm with one paw. 

The other paw held the letter, which she reread. She felt a war between competing fears.  _ It’s a trap,  _ she told herself.  _ Bellwether’s gonna catch you, or Hoofer, or whoever else is helping her. _

_ This may be your only chance, _ she responded.  _ You’re not going to stop Bellwether by doing what she wants. _

_ You won’t stop her either by getting yourself caught. They’ll lock you up again. _

She clenched her fingers, making the paper crumple.  _  If I do nothing, everyone else is going to get locked up instead. _

_ Can’t you see it’s just a trick? She wants to see if you’re still brainwashed, and they’ll be waiting and— _

She paused in horror as she ran through her last thought again. “No...no, I wasn’t brainwashed in the first place! That’s not what happened, that’s not!” 

Judy raised her voice to a scream as she scolded herself. She clutched her head in her paws. The paper rustled against her fur, and she could feel its edge pressing on her forehead.  

_ Bellwether’s a liar,  _ she reminded herself,  _ she lied to you and she used you to lie to others. Don’t let her lies come true, don’t… _

A knock at the door made her look up. “It’s unlocked,” she called. 

The door was pushed open to reveal her landlady, Dharma Armadillo. “Is everything alright? I heard yelling.”

“Yes,” Judy answered without thinking. “Yes I’m fine.”

Mrs. Armadillo peered at her through her glasses. “How is your apartment? Anything out of line?”

“Huh? No, it’s all good.” She carefully folded the letter in half and covered it with her paw. “Everything’s looking good, no problems.”

“That’s good.” Mrs. Armadillo nodded. “When they called to say you were coming back, I wanted to clean up for you. The radiator?” She pointed to the small machine under the window. “Finally called in a repair. Should be nice and cozy for you now.”

“Aw,” Judy gave a small smile. “Thanks Mrs. Armadillo, but you didn’t have to go through all that trouble.”

“Please, call me Dharma.” The armadillo’s expression reminded Judy of her grandmother, a dramatic departure from the stern landlady who had warned her to never lose her keys. “And it was no trouble, you’ve already been through enough as it is.” She fell quiet for a moment, simply nodding her head. “Well, if you’re okay, I will leave you here for the night. Oh, and,” she turned around at the doorway, “in your absence, a bobcat moved in a few doors down. If he causes trouble, you let me know, agreed?”

Judy closed her eyes. “Agreed.” 

“Good. He’s already late with rent this month...but what else should we expect? You know that better than anyone.”

Judy heard the door squeak shut; when she opened her eyes again, her room was sealed. The letter felt rough beneath her paw, and Dharma’s words echoed in her head.

An hour later, she locked her door and headed for the transit.

* * *

 

Judy took the Zootopia Loop to Vine Street, and then transferred to the Rainforest Loop. Animals boarded and left, either pointing and waving with grins or ignoring her existence entirely. She didn’t notice; instead she stared out the windows, her heart racing. Anxiety welled inside her, rising and falling with her thoughts. A couple of times she nearly stood up out of her seat and leapt out onto one of the platforms...and yet she stayed where she was. 

The tracks ran through the Canal District, gliding above waterways and islands. To the east, Judy could see the skyline of Zootopia, lit up against the black of the night sky. The moon’s disc lifted above the reaching fingers of the city. As the skyscrapers slowly floated along with the train’s motion, Judy began to muse over the sheer scale of the metropolis. Every speck she saw, each little dot was a person’s light. How many people were represented in her vision? Was one of those lights Bellwether? Hoofer? Travis? Bogo? The lights could belong to anybody, really…

“Haymarket,” a loud voice spoke over the intercom. Judy snapped out of her tangent and quickly scrambled out of the car along with a few other animals. Once the train pulled away, and the passengers descended from the platform to street level, she was left alone. Judy looked at a large clock hanging over the tracks.

“11:56,” she read. She backed herself against the wall, looked one way down the platform and then the other — no one.

11:57. The suspense began to climax again. This was foolish. She had to leave, there was still time. Judy stood and walked over to the stairs. They led down to darkness, lit only barely by the moon. A single streetlight pierced the shadow. She looked back at the clock.

11:58. Judy came back over, and tried to distract herself by reading the hangings on the station wall. Here was a campaign poster (Tina Gray with her arms around a bear and a ram, with the words “A Zootopia That All Can Share In”), a public notice (a snarling wolf with the words “If you see something, say something: Paid for by the SPEC”), and an advertisement (“Chez Cheese: Buy One Get One Half-Off this Saturday!”). She scanned them, and looked back at the clock.

11:59. She still stood there, ripped apart by uncertainty. Would she be saving her skin or turning down her last chance? 

_ They’re coming for you. _

_ Yes, but who’s ‘they’? _

She paced back to her seat, then back to the stairwell.  She bit at her claws, watching the second hand of the clock swing around in one smooth motion, never ending, never ceasing, driving time forward by its command. It climbed up, aligned itself with its two brothers...

12:00.

No one appeared. 

Judy looked around, trying to see into the shadows. Midnight was supposed to be the cue, when mysterious figures would materialize and pronounce her fate, for better or for worse. The lack of activity only worried her more. 

The paper had said Haymarket, right? Was she in the right spot? Had it been tonight or tomorrow night? 

As the time turned to 12:01, then 12:02, the doubts grew stronger. 

_ Something’s wrong. No one’s coming. Or  they’re spinning their trap.  _

12:03, 12:04.

_ Get out of here, there’s nothing. Go home, just go home.  _

Just as she was on the verge of finally heeding the voice, though, she heard the sound of a motor pulling up by the station. A car door opened and shut, and now hooves were coming up the stairs. Judy braced herself. If she had to run, she would bolt right out of there in a heartbeat. The slow clomping steps came closer, closer. A hulky figure appeared and glanced in her direction. Judy felt her heart skip a beat as she recognized him. 

“Chief Bogo?”

The buffalo slowly approached her; everything had gone silent except for the feeble voices of a few crickets.  He put his hands on his hips and looked down at her. “So you came.”

Judy began to back away, her heart racing. She knew it, this was all so foolish, she had to get out of here…

“Don’t be alarmed,” he added. He reached out a hoof to assuage her. “First, I have to know: did you mean what you said in my office today?”

Judy stopped backing up. His eyes, usually hard and stern, had softened. She still didn’t respond though.

“I promise I want to help you.” He seemed to be searching her face, just as she scanned his for any indication of deception. “Come on.”

He turned around and began to walk, but Judy didn’t follow. Bogo noticed after a few paces and turned around.

“Hopps, do you trust me? Have I ever told you anything that I didn’t believe to be true? And even when I was wrong, didn’t I tell you?”

Judy stared at him, the two drives in her mind screaming louder than ever before. Her heart raced faster than ever as she drew a deep breath.

“I...I trust you.” 

She ordered her legs to move, and they carried her after Bogo, down the stairs, to the curb and into his car. After she adjusted her seat belt to match her size, she closed her door, and Bogo began to follow the road north.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t have been clearer,” he spoke first. “I can’t risk anyone overhearing me, in the office or out in public. That’s why I kicked you out earlier today. If Hoofer had overheard you, it wouldn’t have ended well for anyone.”

Judy began to feel a twinge of hope. “So, you...don’t like Bellwether?”

“Hm, why would you say that? Why should I bear a grudge against someone who expelled some of my best officers from the force?” His lips curled into a small smile as Judy felt a burst of relief. “And you saw me with Hoofer today.  You can tell, the current administration has not exactly...endeared itself to me.”

“Oh, oh thank God!” Judy sat back in her seat, clutching her head. “Then that means you believe me?”

“You graduated top of your class, and you’re a very bright young rabbit. I honestly had a hard time believing that a fox could outwit you. I saw how much you trusted him, and how he helped you crack the case.” He shook his head. “The story just didn’t add up, from what I knew of the two of you.” He looked at Judy. “That being said, you didn’t have explain very well at our meeting, you didn’t have the time. So, why  _ did  _ he attack you?”

Judy immediately began to detail everything that had happened: how she realized the connection of the night howlers, the chase in the subway, the confrontation in the museum. The whole time Bogo listened, sometimes interrupting with a question or two. When she finished, he said nothing for a long while. 

“It seems that our situation is a lot worse than we imagined,” he finally said. “I have a couple of friends who would be interested in hearing your story.”

“L and P?” Judy hazarded.

“What’d I say? Bright young rabbit.”

* * *

 

The car began to pass through the very edges of the Rainforest District, and tall trees and sprinklers gave way to rolling green hills dotted by small clusters of houses. The two of them were all the way out in Meadowlands.

Judy stared out the window as the buildings began to thin. The street they took slimmed from six lanes to four, and then to two. Finally it trickled into a single unmarked road, which meandered its way further north. 

“Where exactly are we going?” She asked. “I don’t think there’s anything else up here.”

“There isn’t,” Bogo replied. “Until you leave the city limits.” 

A few minutes later, they passed a simple road sign. A group of silhouetted animals waved and chanted “Thanks for visiting!”, forever frozen on the sign. Five minutes after that, the road began to curve around a hill. As the car rounded the bend, Judy finally saw their destination.

“Whoa…”

In the midst of the hills, a hollow had been scooped out between their gentle peaks. A large manor nestled in the midst of this hollow. As they drove down and around to the front, Judy could see a the stone grey facade, the wings of the house embracing a large driveway. Smaller buildings clustered around the heart of the property. The car drew close, and a dark green hedge, immaculately trimmed and topped with an iron fence, shielded the house from view again.  They followed an irregular circuit towards the front gate, where a raccoon waited in guard uniform. Upon recognizing Bogo, she nodded and pushed a button, making the gate swing wide. 

As the car pulled forward, Judy could just make out a set of statues lining the driveway. Each sat on a massive pedestal, and the moonlight cast away half the shadow that cloaked them. They looked like medieval figures: a robed wolf with his paws folded and head bowed, another wolf with a sword over his shoulder and a shield by his feet, another with wings and arms outstretched.

“Here we are,” Bogo pulled up by the large double doors and turned his car off. “Remember, just tell them what you told me, okay?”

“Alright,” Judy hopped out of the car and came around the hood. Bogo knocked on the heavy wooden doors, and almost immediately they were opened by a tan cougar wearing a tuxedo.

“Chief Bogo,” he invited the buffalo inside. “And...Judy Hopps…” Judy could hear him trying to quell the distaste in his voice.

“Can you let them know we’ve arrived?” Bogo got his attention again. The butler nodded, closed the front door, and immediately proceeded to the left out of the main entrance. 

Judy, meanwhile, was awed by the house’s interior, which matched the exterior’s grandeur. They stood in a large round space that opened to the rest of the mansion. The walls were a neutral brown, with landscapes and still lifes to break up the monotony. Straight in front of the door, a staircase rose and curled around, leading to a second-story landing. A silver chandelier hung from the ceiling and cast light into the heart of the rotunda. The hardwood floor beneath her pawpads was smooth, a rich shade of chestnut. Her ears perked up as she heard voices coming from where the butler had gone. There was the sound of footsteps coming towards them, and around the corner came Tina Gray, looking down at her phone.

“No, no, the design’s all wrong,” she muttered to herself, “need it to look like—” The tiger suddenly paused when she saw Bogo. “Ah, Chief, good to see you, as always!” They exchanged a handshake while she stowed her phone in her pocket. 

“Thank you, Miss Gray.” Bogo gave her the best smile he could manage. “What brings you out so late at night?”

“The brothers had me for supper, and our discussion ran a little long.”

“It’s nearly one in the morning.” 

“Listen, if I wasn’t up late being here, I would have been up late doing something else. Life on the campaign trail, am I right?” She laughed. “What about you and your friend—” Tina turned and recognized Judy for the first time. “Oh! Sorry, I...I didn’t realize it was—”

“Miss Gray, Judy is a good friend of mine, and I believe she’ll be a friend of yours. She is on our side.”

She looked at him as if he’d just said arsenic was a miracle drug. “Bogo, I...I mean, we have to respect all opinions of course, but…” Tina was trying to pick her words carefully, “...I wouldn’t want to claim anyone’s support unless they honestly gave it, and...proponents of predator control aren’t part of the base I’m—”

“I’m not,” Judy interrupted her. “I’m not anti-predator. I promise. I-I said some things I regret, and a lot of my words have been twisted out of context. But you have to believe me, I would never support anything that Bellwether’s done to this city, and I can tell you right now that there’s a lot of blood on her hands. Please,” she clasped her paws together. “Bogo’s right. I don’t hate predators at all.  If I can help undo the horrible things that have happened, if I can help predators and prey get along again, I will. I’m on your side.”

Tina stood there, mouth gaping in shock. Judy watched her swallow, and her paw moved to her face...were her eyes getting glossy?

“Wow, I…” she chuckled weakly, her voice cracking. “If you had told me I’d hear that tonight, I...you don’t know how much those words mean to me. To lots of predators out there.” 

“I have some kind of idea,” Judy remarked. 

“No really, it’s…” she quickly wiped her eyes and cleared her throat, her voice becoming strong again. “There might still be hope for Zootopia. Thank you, so much. Do you mind if we can meet again sometime, I would really appreciate it.”

“Of course.” Judy offered her paw to shake, and Tina dwarfed it as she accepted. 

“Hopps, Bogo.” She gave them a play salute as she went out the front door. 

Bogo watched as she left. “Well that was certainly unexpected on my end.”

“Yeah,” Judy really started thinking about it. “Why was she even here though?”

Before Bogo could offer an explanation, the butler appeared once more. 

“The Canisson brothers are ready to meet with you now.”

Judy nodded and stepped forward. The butler led her down a short hallway, around the corner, and finally into a large sitting room. The walls were covered in photographs and framed documents, and shelves held chinaware and silverware and many other varieties of wares.  On the far wall hung a long painting which Judy recognized: the famous work “A New Beginning”, which showed lions and zebras shaking hands thousands of years ago at the watering hole. The first recorded instance of predator and prey tranquility.

Below the painting was a fireplace, crackling with warmth, and in front of the fireplace was a set of red cushioned chairs. Two of the chairs were occupied by a pair of wolves. Each wore a black overcoat and matching pants. One of the wolves had black fur and a scar on his right eye, while the other had dappled grey fur.

“Judy Hopps,” the black wolf with the scar rose and greeted her. “My name is Pierce Canisson, and this is my brother Lucas.” Lucas gave a short wave. “I hope you’ll forgive us bringing you out here on such short notice, we’ve barely had time to prepare anything.”

“Please sit down,” Lucas gestured at the sofa across from the chairs. Judy sat down with Bogo beside her. Her eyes went from one wolf to the other, both of them silhouetted by the firelight. “Bogo said you had something that we’d be interested in hearing?” 

Judy looked at the buffalo, who gestured for her to proceed. Taking a deep breath, she repeated her spiel one more time.


	6. The Canisson Brothers

“—and then I got your letter,” Judy concluded. “I met Bogo, and...well, now I’m here.”

The two brothers stared at her as the room settled into quiet.  Only the fire kept them from silence. Lucas rested his snout on his paw, while Pierce drummed his fingers on his chair’s armrest, apparently searching for words.  Finally he looked up and asked: “Judy, do you mind if we speak to you alone?”

She glanced at Bogo, who was watching her for her response. “Sure…” She kept a wary eye on the wolves as Bogo got up and left.

“Take your time,” he nodded as he went out the door. The moment it clicked, Lucas leaned forward and began to speak.

“To begin, I’m just wondering...do you know anything about us?”

Judy racked her brain for any memory of their names, or the Canisson family in general. “I think I’ve heard of you on the news a couple times? And, just coming here…” she looked around. “I’d guess that you’re very rich. Probably inherited, it seems like you’ve lived here a while. And, considering that you were just having dinner with Miss Gray and that Bogo wanted me to tell you all this, you hate Bellwether just as much as I do.”

The two brothers looked at each other and raised their brows. “The chief wasn’t lying,” Lucas said. “Very impressive.”

“Thank you, but...well, I feel like I should get the chance to have some more solid answers too?” 

At this, Pierce dug into his coat pocket, pulled out a small pill bottle, and tossed it to Judy. She read the label.

“‘Cud-B-Gone: Digestive Aid for Bovines’?”

“Turn it around,” he looped his finger. 

She did so. In small print on the back, she finally found what she was looking for: “‘Patent held by Canisson Laboratories.’”

“That’s right,” Pierce leaned back and pointed to his brother. “Lucas is head of development, he’s the brains behind the science. I take care of the business side of...well, the business. Between the two of us, we have seven patents that are behind a lot of medicine being used nowadays.”

Judy began to put the pieces together, and to see the opportunity that lay in front of them. But opening one door had led to more closed ones.  “You don’t like Bellwether, I get that...but why did Bogo bring me all the way here to tell you about her? There must be a reason he thought you’d believe me.”

“Lucas, I think we should start with your story.”

Lucas nodded. “Well, um...I feel like the best place to begin is with a little bit about myself. I’m a doctor of biochemistry, and on top of my work in our company I’m a professor, at ZooTech downtown?” Judy nodded to indicate she knew what he was talking about, and he continued. “Back when the savage predators were first brought to light, I was shocked to hear about Dr. Honey Badger’s involvement. She was a close colleague of mine, and I wouldn’t have suspected her of working on illegally detained mammals.” He fell quiet. “Do you know how I first found out she’d been arrested?”

“No.”

“She called me from the jail. She said to me, ‘Something really big is happening, something really bad.’  Then she gave me the info to log into her portal, get her research. And what I found was, frankly, terrifying — fifteen predators had suddenly turned into monsters, like they’d been thrown back about ten million years. Honey Badger seemed to conclude that these predators had had some ancient switch thrown by some chance…” He shook his head. “I had a different hunch.  I thought some new stimulus, like pollution or something along those lines, had caused it. Of course I needed the data to back up my hypothesis. Luckily for me, the fifteen mammals had been transferred straight to the school for study. I requested permission to draw blood samples.”

He smirked bitterly, and Judy guessed what he was going to say. “They didn’t let you?”

“My first email, ignored,” he nodded. “A week went by and I sent another one. Same thing. In the end I was able to catch our department head and ask him personally. I got a flat out denial; only approved personnel could have access. Considering my work, I was a little surprised that I wasn’t approved.”

“And that’s when you realized something was wrong?”

“I started to have my suspicions, yes, but what really got me was a couple months later, a little after you were attacked. I decided to host a lecture on the biology of predator and prey, open to the public. I hoped to quell some of the rising panic in the city.” He paused and took a deep breath. “A day after I announced the lecture, the dean of the school emails me, putting me on indefinite leave.  When I ask him why, I again get silence. I end up storming into his office, and just so happen to find him in a meeting with a Mr. Clive Hoofer. Now, I don’t know if you know who he is—”

“I do,” Judy didn’t want to linger on the memory, “I had the pleasure of meeting him in Bogo’s office.”

“There we go then.  You have an idea what he’s like. And I sat there, and listened to him explain to the dean why predators should not be allowed on the research team. And over my objections, the dean listened to him.”  The bitterness lingered in the air for a long time. “That’s when I knew something was wrong, that the mayor and her cronies were taking advantage of the situation to promote their own agenda. But I wouldn’t have guessed they were actually behind it…”

“Which only makes our current mission,” Pierce broke in, “all the more important.”

“Yes. Judy, thank you for coming out to meet us. I hope you have a good night.”

Judy took a moment to process his sentence. “Wait wait...that’s it? You said you wanted my help, you said you were going to save Nick!”

“You’ve already helped,” Lucas answered. “And we will, don’t worry. We just have to put everything together.”

“I hope that ‘we’ includes me too.” Judy slid out of her chair and walked up to the two of them.  “Because otherwise you’re telling me that you dragged me all the way out here, just so I could spit out a bit of info, and then stand off to the side?”

Pierce tried to interrupt her. “Judy—”

“No no, let me finish!” She didn’t know if it was months of frustration getting bottled up inside her, or the fact that it was past one in the morning, but her head spun and she had no intention of slowing down. “I have been trapped in a hospital room for weeks, I had to lie every day to get out of there, all while people I care about were getting hurt! And now that I’m out of there, you’re telling me that there’s nothing I can do?”

“Judy—”

“‘Cause let me tell you something,” she jabbed her fingers at them, “there is no way I am letting Bellwether get away with this, and there is no way I’m leaving Nick behind. And if you’re not going to help me, then stop wasting my time!”

There was a knock on the door behind them, and Judy heard Bogo’s voice through the wood. “I couldn’t help but overhear the yelling, and I’m just going to say from my personal experience...it’ll be easier for you if you let her in on the plan.”

“Judy, please,” Pierce tried to take advantage of the interruption. “What I’ve been trying to say is, you’re absolutely right.”

She finally let herself catch a breath, and the black wolf weakly smiled at her before he called out.

“Bogo, feel free to go home. We have a lot more to talk about than we thought.”

* * *

 

Pierce gestured for his brother to stay behind, and began to lead Judy through the mansion. As they walked, she watched the paintings and decorations they passed by.

“It’s unfair of us,” Pierce continued, “to assume that you wouldn’t want to help us.  Our plan is going to have to evolve, and it’s only right that you have a say in where it goes.” 

“Well, thank you,” Judy nodded. Pierce looked away, thinking to himself. “So...do you have a plan?”

“Well, so far it’s been politics. If there’s anything to be thankful for, this has happened in an election year.  And honestly, Bellwether’s plan is effective: she creates a problem, then presents herself as the only solution to this problem, and she wins the vote. Even worse, though, will be if the council ends up the same way. At the moment, she’s facing a divided chamber. The Predators’ Caucus is large enough to force compromises on bills and act against her. But, if she can get City Hall in her hooves...she can pretty much do whatever she wants.”

Judy shuddered. “Zootopia under Bellwether’s control…”

“I’m not fond of the idea either.” 

Pierce paused again, this time in front of a framed photograph. The caption engraved upon the golden frame read: ‘Zootopia 1890’. The shiny skyscrapers had been replaced with buildings of brick and cement and steel, only reaching a third of the height as their glamorous descendants.  Pierce ran his black paws over the glass.

“The city’s been good to us. And it hurts me to see something like happening. That’s why we’ve been helping to fund a movement against her, spearheaded by Miss Gray.  We feel like she’s the right candidate to represent the ideals we’re looking for.”

Judy’s mind drifted back to “A New Beginning”, the lion and zebra shaking hands...

“At the moment, polls show that Bellwether has thirty-four percent of the vote, and Gray has thirty-one.” He began to walk again.  “With so many people undecided, that gives us a good chance.”

“And Bellwether,” Judy pointed out.

“Yes, we still have to keep trying. But it’s not hopeless,” he forced a again, making the scar on his face curve. “If we can win City Hall, then we can undo a lot of the damage.” He paused. “Of course, that’s only one front of our plan. The other one now is what do about the...Night Howlers?”

“Yes, _ Midnicampum holicithias. _ ”

He blinked. “Leave the big names for my brother.”

“Can you two come up with a cure for it?”

They passed in front of another painting, and Judy caught it just as she asked her question. It was a white wolf, sitting in a large red chair, and wearing a business suit. On his knees sat a pair of cubs, dressed up in small child suits of their own.  They had black and grey fur respectively, and large grins on their faces.  The larger wolf had a more subdued smile, comfortable and contented.  Judy looked again at the black wolf cub’s face though — it was unscarred.  She took it all in with only a second, and they were now walking away just as Pierce answered her.

“We’ll do our best.  I’m sure we can begin messing with the chemicals in the Night Howlers. And if Tina can win the election, I’m sure she’ll let us access the animals that we need.”  

“A lot of this seems to be riding on the election. It’s only a couple weeks away,” Judy felt a twinge of worry. “What if we lose?”

“If we lose,” he stopped and faced her, “all is lost.” Pierce’s curt answer drove a spear through her heart. “And I’ll be honest, I’m scared. Bellwether is using a powerful weapon, and I’ve seen it. The attacks have been growing less frequent, but every time one happens, her poll numbers jump up a few points, and we fall behind.”

Judy took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. “What do you need me to do?”

Pierce smiled again. “Your focus is amazing.”

“You said it yourself: if Bellwether wins, all is lost. I’m not going to let that happen. And you still haven’t answered my question from before: what can I do to help?”

Pierce pressed his paws to his lips as he thought. “Well, we can go with a few options.  On the one hand, it’d be fantastic to have you openly campaign on behalf of Gray...except the backlash from Bellwether would be enormous. Plus, if you’re worried about your family, that would not be wise.”

“Maybe I can do something undercover?”

“That...that, yes!” His eyes grew wide with excitement. “If you could go back on the police force, you’d be in a perfect place to help. Laws need to be executed, and if we have someone who’s willing to bend the rules to prevent that…?” He gave her a knowing look. “What do you say?”

“If that’s what I can do to help,” she said, “I’ll be there.”

“That’s all we need. Now come,” he began leading her again. They passed by different photographs: Lucas and Pierce posing with their degrees, grinning arm-in-arm; Lucas giving an exasperated smile as he dressed in a lab coat, working with a cylinder in each paw; Pierce kneeling with a team of all different species, the center kid holding a trophy high in the air. Before Judy could see anymore though, Pierce suddenly halted and turned around.

“Now, it’s very late, and that’s on us for dragging you out at this hour. I hope I can invite you to stay the night with us? We have a guest room available here…”

He opened the door, and Judy’s eyes bugged out. The space was three times the size of her apartment, and was complete with bed, dresser, a television, her own restroom…

“You’ll have to forgive us, we haven’t stocked the minifridge in a while, and the bath’s jet nozzles might not all be working. If you wouldn’t like to stay, I understand…”

Minutes later, Judy was snuggling under the covers in a bed where the pillows were as big as she was.

  
  



	7. Back to the City

Judy felt the sunlight kiss her fur, and opened her eyes to see the sun streaming in through the window. She blinked against the piercing rays. Where was she?

Like a film played on fast-forward, her mind raced through the previous day. Taking the lie detector test. Being released from the hospital. Walking home. Finding the letter. Meeting Bogo and the Canisson brothers...and now she was here.

The enormity of it hit her like a wave. She closed her eyes again and groaned. “No…” Judy grabbed the sheets and rolled over in bed, wrapping herself in a cocoon. She would just stay here. The warm covers were the only shelter she needed. Everything would be alright, nothing could get her here.

She managed to fall asleep for a few more minutes, until she heard three raps on the bedroom door. The cougar butler from the night before called through the wood: “Miss Hopps?”

“Ngghhh…” she stretched. “Yes…?”

“I was asked to see if you’re awake.”

“I am now.”

“Very well. What shall you have for breakfast?”

She paused at his question. “Breakfast?”

“Yes, we can prepare it while you bathe.”

“Um…” Judy tried to put her thoughts in order as she sat up. “I don’t even have an outfit to put on—”

“One issue at a time, Miss Hopps. What will you have to eat?”

“Uh...do you have waffles?”

“Belgian waffles, with raspberry coulis, right away. As for your clothing, simply put your outfit outside the door, and it will be cleaned by the time you finish in the bath. In the meantime a robe will be provided for your use.”

“Okay, but my shirt can’t be dried in a machine, it has to air-dry, and—”

“Madam.” His voice came sharp, but not harsh. “I have had thirty years of experience, I know how to wash clothes.”

Judy didn’t even know how to respond to this. “Alright, you’re the expert…” Fifteen minutes later she was sitting in a bathtub larger than any she’d ever been in. It had been built to accommodate guests as large as elephants; as a result, she could swim laps in it.  The rabbit lathered her fur with sweet smelling shampoos that lined the tubside, each more fragrant than the last. She completely lost track of time, until there was another knock at the bedroom door.

“Miss Hopps? Your food and robe?”

“What?!” She hadn’t even gotten through half the shampoos at her disposal. “Alright, hold on…” Judy leapt out of the tub, nearly slipping on the edge. Then she grabbed a towel that was as wide as a rug, and wrapped herself in it before opening the door. 

“Robe,” the butler laid it over her shoulder, “and your breakfast will be on your bed.” He walked past her, set a silver tray on the sheets. “After you’ve finished, your laundry should be ready. Then Masters Pierce and Lucas will be waiting for you in the study.”

“Thanks,” Judy watched him turn to leave.

She put on the rich scarlet robe, a little big for her but still reasonable for a rabbit, and settled in to eat. The waffle was, in a word, divine.  The edges were crisp, the inside soft, and the syrup had the perfect blend of sugar and fruit.  It had been served with a cup of orange juice, and as Judy drank it down she could taste the tang, feel the pulp on her teeth. She was just cleaning off her mouth with the linen napkin when yet another knock sounded.

“Come in!”

The butler entered one last time, carrying Judy’s clothes from the day before. “Your outfit.”

“Wow, I can’t believe you did it that fast!”

“I told you, I’m a butler; I have to know these things.” He laid them on the bed. “Leave the robe on the hook on the bathroom door, and your dishes on the bed.” The cougar turned sharply and left.  For a split second Judy wanted to ask him his name, wanted to know about him...but her tongue caught in her mouth, and the door swung shut. 

Judy did what he asked, and soon she stepped into the hallway. The butler had disappeared, but she began to piece her way back to the study — or at least, what she had presumed to be the study. When she got to the fireplace room though, they weren’t there. “Huh…”

The rabbit began to feel through the mansion on her own.  Nobody came to guide her, but after finding the main entrance her ears perked up — she heard voices in the opposite wing. Judy began to stride towards them, her paws slapping the marble floor with every step. The brothers were talking over each other, on different topics it seemed. Judy took the hall ahead. It turned left and she followed. Finally she came to an open room, lit with sunlight, and found the two brothers each on the phone, walking in circles around each other. 

Pierce walked by first, his scarred eye visible. “—agree, this will be a fantastic opportunity to have an agent on the inside, and I’ll ask—”

Now Lucas swept around: “—all out? They’re a fairly popular flower, aren’t they? Surely you have to have some in stock! Maybe we can—”

Now Pierce again: “—district?” He paused. “Yeah, that’d be perfect! Maybe we can—”

Lucas: “—other suppliers. No one has any. And I really don’t want to have to special order them from Bunnyburrow, do you know how many—”

Pierce: “—excellent opportunity. As soon as she gets up, I’ll—” He finally noticed her. “Oh! Bogo, call you back.”

He hung up, then motioned her back into the hall. Lucas was left free to continue his circular route around the room.

“Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

“Yeah,” Judy nodded. “What were you calling Bogo about?”

“Letting him know you’re coming back on the force,” he slid his smartphone into his pocket. “You’re still in on that, right?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Good, good!” Pierce leaned around the corner and waved to his brother. “Okay, we got that set up, is there anything else we can do for you?”

“Um…” she racked her thoughts. “I don’t think so.”

“Perfect. Judy, thank you so much for coming out here,” he took her paw and shook it, “and I look forward to working with you. Ah, Lucas!”

The grey wolf stepped out of the room, closing his flip-phone and cramming it into his jacket pocket. “Nobody in the whole city has a large enough supply of the Night Howler flowers. I’m going to have to special order them, but the farms in Bunnyburrow are all smaller operations, I’ll need to call each of them, or even call abroad.”

“Here, you know what, I’ll take care of that. I was hoping you’d drive our guest home?” Pierce gestured to Judy.

Lucas looked at her. “No, look, I have to call right away. Every second counts right now, can’t you take her?”

“I have that meeting today with our lawyer, remember?  I have to be here.  Look, give me the number and I’ll call right now, I promise.”

Judy could see that Lucas was wavering.

“Come on, you can take out the Tierwagen, you never drive that thing.”

Finally Lucas rolled his eyes in good nature. “Fine, fine. Let’s go.” He led Judy down another hall, filled with photographs and framed papers, until finally they reached a large dark space. Lucas hit a glowing button on the wall; on the far end, a row of lights blazed on. Then the next row. Then the next. 

Judy looked out at a fleet of eleven cars, most of them black sedans. However, Lucas approached a tan colored vehicle that ran sleek and low to the ground. “Door’s unlocked,” he called. Judy had to reach up to pull open the door handle, then leap into the seat. The car smelled like it was still in a dealership; the black upholstery inside appeared immaculate. Even the mats on the floor looked untouched. Lucas slid into the driver’s seat beside her, finding the keys in the ignition.

“Isn’t that just asking for thieves?” Judy pointed out.

Lucas smirked. “I won’t just ask, I’ll dare them to get in here.” 

A minute later, the car purred its way outside, and began to zoom up the hills back towards Zootopia.  Lucas stayed quiet for a while, and Judy didn’t know how to break the silence. She finally settled on an appropriate topic (the lovely weather — she was desperate), and she was about to open her mouth when Lucas finally spoke.

“I talked with Pierce, and I wanted to say sorry.”

Judy blinked. “What?”

“For last night, trying to push you out the door. I’m sorry for that.”

“Oh! Thank you,” she nodded. “I mean, you’re not the first person who’s underestimated me for being a rabbit, but I appreciate it.”

“No, it wasn’t that.” He gripped the steering wheel with both paws. “Really, it’s just getting harder to trust mammals, you know? Especially prey mammals, with all the lies being thrown back and forth.”

Judy sighed. “Listen, I’m sorry about—”

“No,” Lucas cut her off. “I’m not going to ask you to apologize again. I can’t lie, I was skeptical of your intentions when you walked in. But after meeting you, I have to say, I think you can really do a lot to help us. All of us.” He smiled weakly. 

She took in his words. “Thank you, Lucas. Again, that means a lot to me.”  She wanted to think of a good way to move the conversation forward, and hit upon the perfect topic. “You know, I think prey, or at least most prey, and predator can find one thing to agree on.”

“What’s that?”

Judy grinned. “Screw Bellwether.”

The wolf burst into laughter. “Yes! Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen anything as ridiculous as the scam she’s trying to pull! I remember, freshman year, reading about Lysenkoism? Back in the Sowviet Union, Joseph Stallion tried to completely discredit basic genetics for the sake of politics. I remember reading it, thinking ‘That’s insane’, and here it is playing out in front of my eyes!”

They each took turns digging at Bellwether, going at everything from her economic policies (“Have you seen the taxes she’s proposing?!” cried Judy) to her hairdo (“How much do you wanna bet there’s a demon hidden in her wool?” cracked Lucas).  Soon they passed the “Welcome to Zootopia!” sign, the leafy skyline looming above them as they entered the Rainforest District.

“You haven’t been here long, right?”

“As a free rabbit, only a few months.”

Lucas leaned a little bit and looked up, off the road. “See that bungalow there, where the Bug-Burga is now?”

“Yeah?”

“Used to be our dad’s favorite place to take us.” His eyes sparkled as he remembered his cubhood days. “Of course it wasn’t a Bug-Burga then, it was an ice cream place, the Sugar Bowl. Whenever Pierce or I had a birthday, he’d take us and let us pick anything we wanted. I always got the brownie sundae, Pierce got chocolate, mint, and vanilla, in that order. And Dad, he’d have the banana split. Then we’d sit around the table, getting ice cream on our snouts and laughing about it.” 

Judy could see the happiness on his face. “Your father sounds like a good wolf.”

“Oh, he was fantastic. He was a proud mammal, but he never boasted. He and Mom, they taught us to respect ourselves and be respectable.” Pierce nodded. “He ran a shipping company out of the port here, but he said he wanted us to do whatever we wanted, as long as we helped people.” 

He fell silent for a while. Then he lifted a paw and began to grab at a fine silver chain around his neck.

“Just before he died, he gave me and my brother these.” He held up a silver pendant, which showed a moose dressed in old robes. Below the hooves were the words “St. Moocent de Paul: CHARITY VALUE INTEGRITY”

“Wow, that’s lovely.” Judy smiled. 

“Yeah, he was a religious man.  Never much for church myself, but this still means a lot to me.” He slipped it back over his head. “This your exit?”

“Next one.”

A short time later, Judy bade Lucas good-bye as she stepped into her apartment building. She entered her home with confidence; just tomorrow, she’d be back at the ZPD.

* * *

 

“Higgins, you take the Little Rodentia circuit.” 

Bogo handed the folder off to the hippopotamus. Judy scooted forward in her seat. She had missed the feeling of the uniform on her body, but now it came coupled with a deep-rooted nervousness…

“Francine, you’re on meter duty.”

The elephant picked up her assignment and walked out the door. Only two remained...

“McHorn, savage predator overwatch in Savanna Central.”

The rhinoceros left. Bogo waited for the door to close behind him, then turned to Judy.

“Hopps, you’re on patrol. Wherever you think there’s trouble, I want to go there and sort things out, okay?”

“Got it, Chief.”

“Now, since you’ve been gone, there’ve been new laws. You’re in the primary position to enforce those new laws. Can I count on you to enforce those new laws,” he cleared his throat, “as you see fit and just?”

She smiled. “You can count on me, Chief.” 

“Very well, dismissed!” As Judy hopped off the chair, Bogo suddenly spoke again. “Oh, and one more thing Hopps.”

“Yes?”

He held out a stack of small flyers, each a quarter of a sheet. They all pictured Tina Gray standing before a crowd, raising her paws and with a big smile on her face. The flyers each had her website, her social media, and the usual politically charged words. “See if you can’t hand these out. On the down low, of course, set them in cafes when no one’s looking.”

“Of course.” Judy accepted them and stowed them in a pouch on her belt.

“Good luck,” Bogo nodded, and without another word they parted. 

Judy started in Sahara Square, going from Vornoy Plaza to the Oasis Hotel.  Every now and then, she’d stop. Take a look around. Carefully slip her paw into her pouch, and leave a couple flyers on a cafe table or in a mailbox. She didn’t know how effective they’d be, but she still felt a sense of victory at undermining Bellwether in even this minor way. Everything seemed pretty calm at the moment, she was just heading north to Tundra Gate—

SPLACK

Judy cringed as something hard and wet smacked into the back of her head. The rabbit whirled around to see three young cheetahs dashing away.

“Stupid bunny!” They jeered. “Go back to the carrot farm, leave us alone!”

“Hey!” She shouted after them. 

Judy was about to give chase, but they were already so far ahead…she stopped to feel the back of her neck. The rabbit felt the crinkle of eggshell, and withdrawing her paw to look she could see the liquid yellow of yolk. Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“You can still fix this…”

A nearby coffee shop was kind enough to let her have napkins to clean up. Then she continued on her route, through Tundratown to the Rainforest District, then into the downtown area all the way back to Savanna Central. Nothing else major happened. 

By the time she passed the city hall, the sun had fallen, and shadows stretched out to be long and uncanny.  Judy was about to set her path towards the ZPD station when her eye was caught by a pair of figures. A wolf was making her way down the steps of City Hall; coming up behind her was Clive Hoofer. He touched her elbow, getting her attention. Judy could see at once that the wolf wasn’t pleased to see him. Hoofer ended up taking her by the arm and steering her into an alley just off of the park. 

Judy kept walking, then began to slowly circle back around to where they had disappeared. As she drew near, she could hear a female voice, presumably the wolf’s.

“—continue as planned, and I will make my report honestly.”

Now Hoofer. “Ah, very good. Putting on a good face for the people, so you can have a clean conscience.” His sing-song voice suddenly turned bitter. Judy flattened herself against the wall, her ears twitching. “And how will your conscience be when a massacre takes place, a massacre that could have been prevented, except that you shut my department down?”

“You’re one to talk about conscience, after what you’re trying to do here.”

“I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m just paying you so you don’t have to waste time looking for corruption where it doesn’t belong.” 

“Save your euphemisms. That’s right Clive, I can use big words too. And I’ve been looking through your reports. You seem to really like twisting words and numbers around to say what you want to say.”

There was silence, then: “Candace, we’re in the middle of a crisis. I have to do what I have to do. Now I know Gray is cozying up to you, wants to make you...counsel to the mayor, right? But surely you’re more professional than that. Let’s not let politics get in the way of our jobs.”

At this, Judy heard the wolf laugh. “Clive, I’m a representative. Politics IS my job. And again, you’re not one to talk, Mr. Follow the Lamb. You champion anything Bellwether presents, before you even have a chance to read it.”

“Very well, I’m not totally non-partisan. But surely we have common interests? I’m still looking for a clean inspection, and you’re looking for...one thousand dollars? Two thousand?”

“Save it Clive. I know why you want me off your case, you’ve seen the poll numbers. Lamby’s falling behind, and the ZPD’s been getting better at handling attacks. When the election comes around, you’ll be out of a job if you’ve got a scandal plastered under your name.”

“Candace, this is your last chance…”

“Yeah? Well listen to me, I’m going to keep digging until I find what it is you’re hiding, and then I’m gonna hang out your dirty laundry for the entire city to see.

Quiet again. “I’m sorry we couldn’t see eye-to-eye Candace. I’ll be expecting your report soon. Good-bye”

Judy quickly jumped behind a few nearby boxes, her padded feet muffling her leap, as the goat and wolf walked by.  After they had departed, she quickly made her way back to the ZPD.


	8. Leading to Election Day

Judy had been passing through an old snowy tenement complex when the shouts first reached her ears.

“Please, just take it and go, please—” A crack of knuckles against flesh, and a cry. Laughter in response.

The rabbit followed her ears. She sprinted between two wide brown buildings, drab and stained with age and neglect. Judy rounded a large pile of trashbags and broken boxes to find the walls opening up into an open space, framing the scene she was looking for.  A raccoon lay on the ground, half facing up with his paws raised in the air in a feeble attempt at defense. Around him, two rhinoceroses and a hippopotamus jeered, all three teenagers. While they weren’t fully grown, they still appeared massive to their target.

“Not so big and tough now, are you, chomper?” One of the rhinoceroses, who had two horns, was rummaging through a computer bag, throwing the contents on the ground. They disappeared into the snowdrifts.

“I’m just trying to get to work,” the raccoon pled, “I don’t want any trouble!”

“Yeah, well you shoulda thoughta that before you came trespassin’!” The other rhinoceros, who had two horns, aimed a kick at the raccoon’s side. He hit his target, drawing out another cry. “Hey Nilly, let’s give ‘im a few whacks and teach what happens to chompers who outstay their welcome!”

The hippopotamus gave a short laugh, and Judy noticed a golf club in his hand—

“Alright, break it up! All of you!”

Her voice made every eye jerk to her. The alarm of the three assailants quickly relaxed.

“Hey, Hopps!” the one-horned rhino said with a grin.  “Fancy a hero showing up at our place!”

Judy ignored his greeting. “I said break it up.”

“Nah, don’t worry,” the hippopotamus gestured to the raccoon. “We’re not fighting, we’re just defending ourselves. Chompers skulking around,” he turned and spat on their prisoner. “It’s not right.”

“I’ll tell you what’s not right: assault, and assault with a deadly weapon!” She pointed to the club in his hand. “Now, any chance you’re going to come quietly, or is this going to get messy?”

The three of them were shocked, and Judy felt spitefully joyful to see them off-put. The two-horned rhino suddenly had a moment of realization. “Ohhh…guys,” he nodded with a clever expression, “she just wants in on it.”

In a flash she had her tranquilizer out. “Step away from the raccoon, and put your hands in the air right now, or so help me I’ll send you to Dreamland for three days!”

Instead of complying with her orders, though, the three assailants panicked and began to run. The rhinoceros charged past her. She tried to fire the dart; it grazed by his face and hit the side of a building, falling with an impotent clink. As she looked up, the other two were escaping down the alley. It was just her and the raccoon, who was still clutching his torso.

“Hey,” Judy got up and padded over to him. “You’re gonna be alright.”

His face still didn’t look at hers, it was too twisted in agony. All of his teeth showed as he hissed air in pain, mixed with groans. The raccoon rolled over onto his side, and Judy could see the fur under his eyes sparkling with tears.

“This is Officer Hopps,” she called into her radio. “Send medical evac immediately. Tundratown, 816 Frostbite Street. Victim of assault, over.” With that she walked over to his bag, which the rhinoceros had dropped in his escape. Inside were a couple of plastic folders stuffed with papers, and a laptop. Judy opened the computer; long cracks webbed the screen like a spider’s work. She replaced it in the bag before setting it against the wall. Then she began to collect the other items that had been thrown aside: a wallet belonging to a Mr. Ralph Coor; a set of graphite that had been spilled over the frozen pavement; more papers that showed sketches of buildings, each with a big red “DENIED” stamped on them; a picture of Ralph with an older male, their arms around each other, with Ralph holding a small model of a house and beaming proudly.

“Mr. Coor?” Judy came over to him, holding his possessions. “I think I got everything.”

He still had one paw holding onto his side, while the other gripped the ground. Ralph’s eyes barely opened. He vocalized a groan, which seemed to be all he could manage. Judy understood his sentiment.

“You’re welcome.”

She knelt beside him, keeping him calm and secure until the ambulance came rolling into the square.

Judy had been back on the force for a week and a half; this was the seventh time she’d stopped a prey-on-predator assault.

* * *

 

Judy spent the rest of the day much more quietly, sitting at her desk and typing the incident report. By now she had it down to a template, a fact she was not happy to know.

“District, Tundratown,” she typed. “Victim, Ralph Coor, age 22, species is raccoon…”

She heard hooves rap on her cubicle wall, and she turned to see Bogo coming in. “Another one?”

“Yeah,” Judy could hear the fatigue in her voice. “The paramedics said he was going to be alright...but that’s just what they’re trained to say, I know.”

“Hm,” he nodded. “Try not to think about it too much. Now, the reason I came in here was to talk to you about a very important assignment.”

She swiveled her chair away from her desk.

“On Thursday,” he began, “Tina Gray’s going to be having a rally in the middle of Savannah Central. It’s her last big push before election day on Friday. Given your recent line of reports,” he gestured to the computer screen, “we believe there will be agitators and attempts at violence, so we’re giving Miss Gray a personal security detail. Now, the same night is Gazelle’s concert, and a lot of officers are already asking to work that shift. That means our line up is kind of thin,” he stared right at her, “so I need to assign you to Gray.  I know you and Gray disagree on a lot of issues,” his eye fluttered in what was either a twitch or a wink, “but I trust that you will be professional about this.”

Judy nodded. “Yeah, I mean, I’d just be worried about a potential conflict of interest. Are you sure there’s no one else?”

“No one. You don’t have a choice.”

“Alright, well...I understand that I have to be impartial. If you believe that I would be the best fit, then I accept.”

“Splendid. I’ll notify her campaign at once.” He took a couple steps forward and added under his breath, “Fantastic acting, Hopps. Also, she wants to meet you at the brothers’ manor the day before, I’ll drive.”

Judy grinned back and nodded as he left, and returned to her report. She was just finishing the descriptions of the perpetrators when she noticed the email tab in her browser. A small number one flashed by the envelope. She opened the tab and read:

> TO: jhopps@zpd.gov
> 
> FROM: clive.hoofer@zootopiacity.gov
> 
> SUBJECT: [no subject]
> 
> Judy Hopps,
> 
> As you know, the city elections will be held next Thursday. And at the moment, the outlook for our city is grim. You love Zootopia as much as I do, and I’m sure we feel the same pain to see it torn apart by terror and uncontrolled brutes. Unfortunately, our great metropolis may soon fall into the hands of traitorous forces. Tina Gray is too woefully incompetent to handle the crisis that grips Zootopia, and her mayorship will destroy our city. 
> 
> As a hero to the citizenry, and a powerful symbol of security, you have great influence over public perception. Therefore, Dawn Bellwether would like to ask for your endorsement.  Together we can keep Zootopia strong and secure, as long as we have your help.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Clive Hoofer

Judy read the email through several times, hardly believing it. Was he really asking for…?  She began to reply:

> TO: clive.hoofer@zootopiacity.gov 
> 
> FROM: jhopps@zpd.gov
> 
> SUBJECT: Reply: [no subject]
> 
> Mr. Hoofer,
> 
> Thank you for reaching out to me. I agree that the city is facing some very serious problems right now, and I want to do everything I can to help solve them. However, you have to understand that as a law enforcement officer, it wouldn’t be proper for me to take one side or another in that kind of respect. My concern is with protecting the city, and I will do my duties regardless of who is in office.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Judy Hopps

* * *

“You’re kidding?”

“No!” Judy talked to Pierce over her cellphone as she sat on her bed. “He seriously wanted me to endorse her.”

“What did you say?”

“I said no, of course.”

“Well I figured that, but how did you say no? What exactly did you say?”

“I just told him that I wasn’t willing to openly endorse any candidate, that I wanted to remain as impartial as possible.”

Pierce was quiet for a second. “Okay, just be careful around him. He’s not someone to be trifled with.”

“Got it.” She drummed her fingers on her knee. “You know, just the other day I saw him trying to intimidate one of the city council representatives into letting him off the hook, she said she was going to expose the fact he’s lying in his research.”

“Judy, don’t you ever be as stupid as she was.” There was a crackle as he breathed into the receiver. “We’ve been trying to piece together a history of Clive, and it’s not a pretty one.”

“Why? What’s he done?”

But she heard voices on the other end. “Sorry, gotta let you go. Lucas just came in, we’re meeting with Tina again. Call you later, okay?” 

“Okay, bye!” Judy hung up, thinking about his words. And suddenly she realized that in all her excitement and work, she hardly knew anything about Clive Hoofer. 

The next morning, her patrol ran across a couple of vandals trying to spraypaint a car. As she was typing it up, she began searching in another tab for stories about Clive Hoofer. Most of the top stories were about his recent rise to power under Bellwether, but as she trimmed down her results Judy began to paint a picture.

“Prison Guard Captain Accused of Murder”

As she wrote her report about two teenagers who had been trying to repaint a car green, Judy read about a young goat, facing charges over the deaths of a fox and lion that had been in his custody. Testimonies from inmates detailed how the captain forced them to eat meals infested with worms and maggots, with the food thrown into the mud if it appeared “too good for them.” Blurred pictures showed bruises, bloodied faces. Courtroom sketches showing families sitting across the aisle from a goat who had his arms crossed. A small headline about insufficient evidence to prove excessive force. Furbook pages dedicated to bringing the captain to real justice, pages that only had twenty followers and had not been updated in years. A tiny article saying that a guard who had faced past controversy had gone into work with a small insurance company, pushing papers around. Another tabloid piece about he’d been fired, either for denying treatment to predators or having a secret affair with Gazelle (Judy guessed it had been the former). That was a couple months before the first Night Howler attack had occurred.

In between her work and her research, she didn’t notice the little icon appear again.

“Oh!” She clicked on the tab again, and read:

> TO: jhopps@zpd.gov
> 
> FROM: clive.hoofer@zootopiacity.gov
> 
> SUBJECT: Reply: Reply: [no subject]
> 
> Officer Hopps,
> 
> I understand your concern with keeping up the integrity of your badge.  I applaud your efforts to be as upright a citizen as possible. However, in these troubled times I’m sure you’d agree that sometimes dramatic actions must be taken, and rules bent. If we are to protect ourselves we have to act outside our comfort zone sometimes, and outside the expectations placed by society.
> 
> Endorsing Bellwether within your duties as an officer would perhaps be improper. However, within your role as a public figure, you could certainly express your support for the candidate that helped you. 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Clive Hoofer

Judy felt an unease within her. She knew she had to keep her facade...but if she said anything outright supporting Bellwether, or even hinting that she supported Bellwether, the sheep could end up winning. She began her reply:

> TO: clive.hoofer@zootopiacity.gov 
> 
> FROM: jhopps@zpd.gov
> 
> SUBJECT: Reply: Reply: Reply: [no subject]
> 
> Mr. Hoofer,
> 
> I feel like you may be frustrated with me, and I hope that I don’t come across as short. As I said before, I care very much for the city, and I will take good care of it. But again, I do not want to take sides in this campaign. I must respectfully disagree with your belief that we can bend the rules in this instance.  I will not judge you if you wish to do so, but I cannot bring myself to compromise what I believe in. I hope that you and Bellwether will understand.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Judy Hopps

She plodded through the rest of the day, went home, went on patrol the next morning, stopped another bout of violence between a bear and a herd of wildebeests. Judy sat to her cubicle a few hours later to find another response:

> TO: jhopps@zpd.gov
> 
> FROM: clive.hoofer@zootopiacity.gov
> 
> SUBJECT: Reply: Reply: Reply: Reply: [no subject]
> 
> Hopps:
> 
> I’m sorry to hear that you’re caught up in old ideas. We are now living in a time where old traditions are holding us back, and hurting people in very real ways. There are points where we have to recognize that some things must be let go for the greater good of all people. Old mannerisms have to be updated, and ethics have to evolve to be relevant. 
> 
> I had hoped that you of all people would empathize with the plight of Zootopia, and the terror that predators current hold over the populace. There is only one candidate that promises to act tough to prevent anyone going through what you did. If you cannot support her then it could be that much harder for us. If you truly want to protect the city you would do this. 
> 
> Clive Hoofer

Judy didn’t know how to respond. Her fingers hovered over the keys. She would begin a sentence, and decide it was too sympathetic. She would try again, and it would sound too opposed. Before she could even begin her reply in earnest, she heard hooves on her cubicle again.

“Hopps,” Bogo pointed at the clock. “It’s time to go home. Want me to drive you?”

“Yeah,” she recited, “I’d appreciate that.” 

A few minutes later they were heading north to the Meadowlands.

 


	9. Two Steps Forward

“Stir-fry,” the butler announced as he laid the plates before Judy and Tina. “Tofu with broccoli, garlic, peppers, onions, and carrots.” Judy looked down at the dish, far prettier and more composed than anything she had eaten in her life. “Enjoy.” The cougar briskly turned and walked away, without a second glance at the rabbit.

Judy again had that feeling of wanting to say something to him, or about him to Tina. In the end she decided it wasn’t worth her while, and she began to eat as she looked around the dining room.

The space glowed with light from a silver chandelier above their heads. Judy eyeballed it at about twice her height, and it sparkled with a collection of crystals. It hung over the middle of a long table designed to sit twenty wolf-sized animals. At the moment only two places were set, right across from each other and underneath the light. A white cloth covered the entire table, and was accented with brown vines stitched along its edge. The brown matched the hardwood floor. Judy watched the floor run to the walls, light cream and ornamented with three large paintings of a serene aardvark in robes, one yak dragging another onto a lifeboat with a sinking ship in the background, and a pair of battle lines charging at each other with banners flying. The paintings faced opposite Judy; behind her were a line of tall windows, which loomed dark with night.

“Are you excited for the rally tomorrow?” Judy finally ventured between bites.

Tina swallowed and patted her mouth with a napkin before answering. “Nervous. It’s our big final push. It’s time to send them to the voting booth…” She drummed her padded fingers on the tablecloth. “I just hope things go alright.”

“Well, how do the polls look?”

“Hopeful,” Tina acknowledged. “We picked up some endorsements from the Animal Federation of Labor and the local chapter of the civil rights union...and the Golden Claw.”

“That predator supremacist group?”

“Yeah, we’re not boasting about that one.” She scoffed as she chased her food around her plate. “We’re strong with predators and younger prey. Older prey animals are a little more split, but if everyone shows up we actually have a majority: 52 to 35, with the rest undecided.”

“If everyone shows up though,” Judy echoed.

“Yes, that’s our problem. Younger voters are harder to get involved. If we can convince them that it’s important enough—”

“Which it is.”

“Yes, then we have a chance. It seems every day we’re climbing, I think we can pull it off.” Tina stirred her food for a bit, clearly thinking of something to say. “It’s helped that there haven’t been any more cases of predatory animals going savage. Whenever one happens, our ratings dip.”

“Yeah, they haven’t been happening as much.” Judy began to think out loud. “It doesn’t make sense, you think Bellwether would be ramping up her attacks. Unless…”

She looked up in realization. Tina watched expectantly.

“When Nick and I found the lab in the train car, and we crashed it...I think we might have cut off their supply of the Night Howler toxin.”

“But...that was almost three months ago.” Tina shook her head. “Wouldn’t she have rebuilt the lab by now?”

“That’s possible,” Judy tried to run through all the scenarios in her mind, “but that’s the only explanation I can think of. They must have been running on reserves, especially since they’ve been slowing down recently. What if they never found a good place to rebuild the lab? That means they’ve used up all the Night Howler formula, or they’re on their last little bit.”

Tina nodded. “Either way, I’m just grateful that the attacks have stopped.” Suddenly she took her paws off the table and went back to the food, sighing. “Anyways, I didn’t want to just talk to you about business. I want to talk about you and me, Judy.” She managed to put on a smile. “Bogo told me you came all the way from Bunnyburrow?”

“Yeah,” Judy felt relieved to talk about something other than Bellwether and her conspiracy. “Ever since I was little I wanted to be a police officer, and when I was in high school the guidance counselor told me about Lionheart’s Mammal Inclusion Initiative. Took advantage of that, and well...the rest is history.” She chased a bit of broccoli around her plate. “Things went pretty well at the academy, on the weekends I took a job at the local library, gave me a chance to read through my materials at work.”

“Oh my gosh, I worked in a library during college!”

“No way,” Judy smirked.

“Yes! Wasn’t the biggest one on campus, but it was still nice. I worked at the circulation desk, sorting mail and checking things in and out. Tell me, have any patron horror stories?” 

“Hmmm,” Judy searched her memory. “Okay, I got one. This hippo came in, had a book two weeks overdue. First thing he says, ‘But I don’t really have to pay that fine, right?’ Had to go back and forth with him, get my supervisor, ugh…”

“Oh, those kinds of people are the worst.” Tina rolled her eyes. “Okay, I got one for you.” Judy took the opportunity to have a couple more bites as she listened. “We were coming up to a weekend, exactly one minute from closing. We’d already vacated the entire library, the lights were turned off and we were just resetting the computers for the next day. And then, we hear a knocking at the door. It’s a professor. Carrying a huge stack of books,” she gestured with her paws to indicate a pile two feet high, “ready to return.”

“Oh no…”

“Oh yes. AND, they weren’t even from our library, we had to spend ten minutes getting them sorted out and marked. My supervisor wasn’t any happier than I was.” She lightly chuckled at the memory.

“I can imagine,” Judy responded. 

They spent a quarter of an hour exchanging stories, even after their plates had been emptied and carried away by the butler. Tina was in the middle of a story about a panther who had accidentally set off the emergency alarm, “even though it was labeled with two signs marked with three-inch high letters”, when the cougar came up to them and lightly coughed.

“The brothers request your presence.”

“Oh, sure,” Judy leapt over the side of her chair to the ground as Tina scooted out her seat. 

“Please follow me.” He led them down the hallway, never looking back as he proceeded to the entrance hall and opened the doors.

“Out here?” Tina asked. 

“Yes, Miss Gray,” he answered without pausing. “Master Lucas is in his laboratory, and Master Pierce is with him.” 

They followed a cement path away from the main courtyard, which cut its way through the grass and to a long, low building. The butler pulled a card from his pocket and held it to a sensor by the door. It beeped just before he turned the handle.

“Please follow me.” 

Judy followed him, with Tina right behind. They entered a hallway that, contrasted with the ornate design of the mansion, appeared minimalist. Speckled floor tiles felt cold against her paws, and the walls were plain white. Sterile fluorescent lights ran overhead. Doors sat on either side with only numbers to identify them. The hall ran into a stairwell, which they used to descend to the first sublevel. As the steps turned about, Judy spotted Pierce waiting for them. “There we are! Come, come.”

“Master Pierce,” the butler quietly spoke, “I shall return upstairs and leave you with your guests.”

“Alright then. Thank you,” Pierce raised a black paw in farewell, then gestured for Judy and Tina to come forward. “We want to show you something. But first,” he held up three facemasks, “have to ask you to put these on.”

Judy accepted one and stretched the band to accommodate her head.  The paper rustled against her nose, covering her nostrils and mouth. Tina and Pierce also put on their masks. 

“Just taking some basic precautions. At least we don’t need the full sterile suits in this room. Those are a joy to take on and off,” he winked his scarred eye. “Now listen, no touching anything.”

Judy nodded in affirmation, and watched as Pierce opened the door. They promptly faced another door. Pierce opened that one too, and they finally entered the laboratory. It had black counters with white tops, an off-white tile floor, and the same lights that offered no warmth. Lucas was in front of one of the counters, carefully holding up tiny jars filled with blue liquid, and using a pipette to squirt a clear substance into them. Without turning around he said, “Just a moment…”

He went through five more of the jars until he turned around. The grey wolf was wearing a white lab coat, goggles, and a facemask.  He moved the goggles up to the top of his head before he spoke.

“Just thought you’d be interested in knowing our progress.” His voice came a little muffled thanks to the mask. “The effects of  _ Midnicampum holicithias  _ are well-documented, and I’ve been working on finding a way to counteract the active compounds.”

“How’s that been working?” Judy asked. In response Lucas pointed to a computer screen a few feet over, where lines of text and charts appeared. 

“I found the right antidote,” Lucas explained. “Right now I’m just working on the correct concentration. The problem though, is that this is only one part of the cure. Whatever Bellwether’s using, it probably has other compounds mixed in that have to be countered, and then there’s the fact a graduated cylinder can only simulate the mammal body so well.”

“So what you’re saying,” Tina ventured, “is that you need to access the animals who’ve been hit with the toxin?”

“That’s the only way we can know for sure if the cure will work. We need those toxin and blood samples.”

Tina took a deep breath. “I guess it all depends on me winning the election the day after tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow, actually,” Pierce looked down at his watch. “Past midnight now. Judy, Tina, may I offer you a guest room?”

“Oh my,” Tina seemed surprised to hear the time. “I need to get home actually, I have a few things to prepare for tomorrow. Judy, do you want a ride back?”

“Yeah, I think that’d be best. Thank you though, Pierce.”

“No problem,” he smiled. “I’ll take you upstairs.”

“Thank you,” Judy said. “Oh, and Lucas, keep up the good work.”

He flashed a thumbs up as they left.

* * *

 

“Tina! Tina! Tina! Tina!”

Judy listened to the crowd chant over and over. She peered through the stage’s curtain; a crowd of at least five thousand had gathered in the plaza. A police line fended off a group of angry protesters in the distance, who waved signs like “SAVE OUR KIDS FROM CHOMPERS” and “THEY’LL EAT US ONE WAY OR ANOTHER”. Up on the stage stood a single podium which came with bullet shields installed. A wolf approached the podium now and spoke into the microphone.

“Good afternoon!” She announced. The crowd cheered, and she had to wait to continue. “Brothers and sisters, my name is Candace Luppin, and I stand before you as a proud Zootopian and your city council representative. Today we’re here to support a very important candidate…”

Judy left the curtain and looked around. Tina stood there running through her notecards again.

“Still nervous?” Judy asked.

“Just a little.” The tiger gave a short exhale to release the stress. “But you know, I’ve done this before, I should be okay.”

“That’s what I’m here to ensure. And hey, you’ll do fine.”

“Thanks Judy,” she grinned. “I hope so…”

The rabbit went back to watching the audience. Her eyes traveled from far away down to the fence just before her. One of the animals stared at her curiously. A coyote…

“Travis!” Judy recognized her nurse. Casting a quick glance back at Candace, who was still talking, she motioned the coyote to the barricade. “Hey, are you doing alright?”

“Judy!” He greeted her. “It’s so good to see you up and about again. And I’ve been okay. Found new work.”

“Where at?” She had to struggle to hear him over the swell of the crowd.

“Ah, well…” Travis tapped his fingers together. “I mean, it’s not exactly using my degree...but I’m the night janitor at a deli shop in Tundra Town.”

“Oh hey, you got something, that’s pretty good, right?” Judy offered, trying to promote an optimistic outlook. 

“Sure, the hours are easier now, but it doesn’t pay my bills. And it’s not what I want to do, I want to be a nurse.” He rested his fists on the barricade.  “Why else do you think I’m here? Only one candidate is going to repeal the jobs law.”

She nodded in resolution. “That’s right. In fact, I think she’s going on stage soon, I gotta keep an eye out for her. But listen, Travis? It was good to run into you, and I’m happy to hear you’re doing okay. Things will get better soon, I promise!” 

Judy waved good-bye, and Travis meekly reciprocated. She returned to her post just as Candace finished giving her speech, elaborating on Tina Gray’s virtues, before finally announcing “And without further ado, here she is, our mayoral candidate!”

Tina went out on stage, and Judy followed behind. She had to appear straight-browed, slightly bitter, like she didn’t want to be there but had to. For a moment her memory of acting in her childhood Carrot Days skit flashed in front of her. She wasn’t acting for a group of families, it was a huge crowd. She wasn’t trying to get a grade, she was trying to save the city. Mom and Dad weren’t here to assure her that her poor performance was good; if she slipped up, lives were on the line. She took her spot four paces from Gray, standing at strict attention and surveying the crowd. A loud cheer erupted which she only half-heard. The cheers mixed with distant boos from the protesters, but she half-ignored that too. 

“Hello Zootopia!” Tina began. “Thank you for your hearty welcome, and to Candace for her kind words. I’m not going to lie, we are facing tough times for the city, but it’s at these trying moments that we have to stick with our values all the more. Justice, fairness, and equal opportunity for all mammals; that’s what we stand for in Zootopia, and that’s what I stand for. As mayor, I…”

Judy kept scanning the audience. She kept her face like a mask, watching for any sign of wrongdoing. Her ears twitched constantly as she searched every sound. Her eyes jumped from face to face. Paw to hoof. Some were enthused and clapped. Some folded their arms and scowled. Protesters yelling. Signs waving. Cameras flashing. Lights popping in her eyes.

“...need to come together as a single people. We may have differences, but we have more in common. We cannot let ourselves be exploited by fear and turn to tyrants in panic. We must stay together, and promote unity!”

Judy heard the crowd cheer again. Her eyes ran over the audience once again...and spotted a lone animal approaching the stage. 

Her ears immediately swiveled and focused on him. It was a ram, carrying a toolbox...a ram that looked familiar. One of the other guards stopped him. He flashed a card, and was let through. 

“...invite all to share in the bounty that our city offers. There are forces at play that would see us divided, see us succumb to fear and ignorance, see us devolve into a cruel and uncaring society. We must hold true to the maxims that founded our government, the idea that all mammals are made differently but equally, and deserve the same respect.”

Judy quietly stepped back to avoid interrupting Tina. Her heart began to hammer in her chest. She retreated to the curtain and peered behind with only a single eye. The ram climbed the stairs on the opposite end of the stage and kept walking. He fixed his gaze on where the curtains parted. 

Judy squinted to see his face better. Shadows covered the backstage area though, and obscured her vision.

“...extremists who want to shove predators into the margins of society and keep us from engaging in public life. Such ideas aren’t just immoral, but they are economically harmful, and go against everything that Zootopia is about!”

The ram stopped right outside where the crowd could see him. With the proximity Judy recognized him for sure now.

“Doug,” she muttered under her breath.

“...bring resolution to the scandal and crisis that have rocked our fair city to its core. And I promise you that we can usher in the most peaceful and prosperous years that Zootopia has seen in a long long time. On my honor, I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”

The ram set the toolbox down. He knelt before it. Flicked open the locks. Pulled out a pistol. Turned to the stage.

WIth the silence that only padless rabbit paws could offer, Judy sprinted behind the curtain. The ram looked up in time to see two feet connect with his face, and he went flying. 

The ensuing clash and curtain ripple caused a stir in the audience, and Tina paused. Judy listened for a moment. Then Tina went back to her speech, and Judy went back to her catch.

“Well well well,” she whispered as she picked up the gun, “looks like someone mistook the square for a shooting range.”

“You…” Doug growled, “you stupid rabbit, you don’t know what you’re doing. If we let that tiger win, Zootopia’s done for!” 

“You mean Bellwether’s done for?” Judy eyed him. “Is she that desperate for her campaign?”

“Why are you helping a predator?!” 

“It’s called doing my job as an officer” she unhooked a pair of handcuffs from her belt. “Now be a good sheep and hold out your hooves.”

Half an hour later, Tina left the stage to roaring applause, and came behind the curtain to see the ram lying on the floor with Judy leaning on him.

“Oh!” She startled back. “What happened?!”

“I caught a potential assassin, that’s what happened.” Judy came over to her. “As soon as the crowd disperses I’m taking him into the station.”

Tina looked at the ram, the open toolbox, the pistol. “He was going to…?”

“Yep. But he’s not going to anymore. And you know what else?” Judy led her away from Doug and whispered. “I think if we take a closer look at his bank accounts, we might find a money trail leading back to our favorite little lamb. How would that go for ratings?”

“Ohhhhh!” Tina brightened up at that.

“And that’s still not all.” Judy held out her paw. In it was a plastic bag, filled with little blue orbs. “I feel like Lucas would appreciate having these samples to work with.”

Tina slowly shook her head. “Judy...thank you so much. Truly, every predator owes you a debt of gratitude.”

“Hey, I have a friend locked up. I gotta do whatever I can to get him free, right?” She winked. “Here, get up Doug, let’s take you in…”

After dropping him off in the station’s jail, much to Bogo’s satisfaction, she had the rest of the day off.  She talked to a few officers at the water cooler who were looking for leads on a missing bobcat (she had nothing) before Bogo told her to return home and rest. As she lay in bed a couple hours later, she thought about the fact that they had dealt a major blow to Bellwether, that they had more proof against her, that as soon as Tina took office everything would be alright…

She woke to a dark night, and heard sirens in the distance. That hadn’t stirred her though; her pager had, ringing incessantly on her dresser.

CALL ME - BOGO

Her heart began to race again. Judy seized her phone and with trembling paws pulled up Bogo’s contact. 

“Chief! Chief, what’s happening?!”

“It’s all gone wrong Hopps. Get to the station now.”


	10. "It's All Gone Wrong"

The koala stood in front of Clive Hoofer, a file in his lap. “Sir, I have to insist we prepare a press release in case of a loss tomorrow evening. Right now the polls are in Miss Gray’s favor, we can’t ignore the reality of our situation any longer. We need to have something to say.”

Clive sat at his desk, his hooved hands resting on its surface one atop another. To their left sat a file folder very neatly squared. To their right sat his smartphone. Behind him the windows showed a bright afternoon. The office had a plain green carpet, wooden walls, and a pair of shelves on either side. Clive nodded slowly as he listened to his publicist. “I appreciate your concern. However, I do not believe that we will need a loss speech of any kind.”

“Mr. Hoofer,” the koala half-laughed in his disbelief, “surely you can’t be so certain that we’re going to win. Not when polls—”

“Polls and voting booths are two different things,” Clive broke in. “Aren’t they?”

“Yes sir, but we should still be prepared.”

Clive stared into his eyes for a moment. He watched the koala return his gaze for a couple seconds, then look down. “Tomorrow we will put something together if we must. But I assure you it is not a priority for me or Dawn.”

“Yes sir, I understand. Please though, for my own peace of mind...”

“Very well.” The goat sighed. “We can talk about this later. I have Mrs. Luppin coming at approximately nine o’clock, I will see you at eight.” 

“Oh, uh, actually…” the koala winced a little, “my daughter’s having her school play tonight, and she’s really excited for me to go…she’s in the lead role...and I...”

Clive did not react other than glaring. 

“I should be able to make it sir, I’ll have to leave early and rush over here though, I’d hate—”

“Good.” Clive opened his folder and began to look through the papers inside. “Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to be productive until our meeting.” 

As the publicist showed himself out, Clive flipped through the pages before him. He glanced up to check that the door had closed...then he picked up his phone and checked his messages. 

Nothing yet.

The goat wordlessly stood and trotted over to his office’s window.  It looked over Savannah Central, and on the far end he could see the crowd gathered at the rally. He could not make out Tina’s words, but he heard her voice carrying over the speakers. Right now he could only wait and hope that his men did the job correctly…

His phone buzzed. He looked at it. 

DOUG CAPTURED. HOPPS TOOK HIM DOWN.

Clive raised his eyebrows at the second half, but replied back:

GOOD. KEEP EYE ON RABBIT. 

He looked out the window again. It was nearly impossible to make out individual mammals at this distance. Could it have been possible that she escaped her conditioning? Had the process not been as perfect as the doctor had described? These thoughts buzzed around his mind. Clive paused. Captured them. Shoved them into a drawer and locked them inside. 

He had more important things to worry about.

Clive spent the next several hours shuffling through papers. A proposed budget for a new line of tests for the savage predators...he ran several lines through the numbers detailing predator accommodations and wrote in red “TRIM BUDGET. FOOD CAN BE CHEAPER. ANY COMFORTS WASTE OF TAX MONEY.” Now the latest medical reports, up for his review. After scanning the article he wrote “FIX DRAFT. EMPHASIZE INTERNAL ORIGIN. WHAT WILL MEDIA TAKE AWAY FROM IT?” The daylight died behind him as he worked, and he got up to close the curtains just before eight. Clive had his pen on another report when his phone buzzed again. 

GETTING INTO POSITION

Clive replied back.

LET ME KNOW WHEN IT IS TIME

He was just in the middle of typing it out when he got a second message from another sender.

WE HAVE THE PACKAGE READY TO DELIVER

Again the goat responded.

WAIT FOR SIGNAL

He was just finishing this last message when he heard a knock at his door. “Come in.”

Candace Luppin opened the door, holding a stack of papers in one paw and wearing a grim, yet satisfied expression on her face. 

“Mrs. Luppin, thank you for your punctuality. May I offer you some coffee?”

“If you’d like.” Clive stood and walked over to his shelf, where a pot stood empty. “Don’t think hospitality will give you any reprieve, though.”

He raised his hooves in a gesture of openness. “I simply want to offer you a drink, with it getting late and all.” 

He received no answer, so he went back to his pot. The filter and grinds went in the top, the water in the reservoir, and the pot under the spout. After he turned it on, he sat back at his desk. “Please Mrs. Luppin, make yourself at home.” 

The wolf did not sit. Instead she opened the folder in her arms. “I have finished my report.  I’ve already sent a copy to the archive, and I feel it’s only proper that I tell you what I found.”

“I hope nothing out of the ordinary?”

“Oh,” she scoffed, “I found plenty. Seventy-one instances of data tampering, thirteen of outright fabrication. The constant failure to follow ethical guidelines.  Your department is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen.”

“Really?” Clive feigned ignorance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t give me that. Look, right here, I got a testimony that…”

As she continued on her spiel, he looked back down at his papers and kept reading them. An employee review that he had to fill out. They’d been good and loyal, so he began to give them full marks. 

The coffee pot hummed as the water heated, and began to pump the liquid over the grounds.

Clive’s pen left thin black trails on the paper. Judy slept in her bed. Bellwether stepped into her premium booth at the Zoo Bowl stadium. Gazelle readied herself under the stadium’s floor. Two sheep ran through the streets. A bound and gagged bobcat found himself being shoved forward by those two sheep.  All over the city, mammals watched predators with vigilant eyes.

“..even listening to me?”

“I’m listening, I just need to multi-task.”

Candace reluctantly continued her long list of transgressions, and Clive again checked out. Another review, this one for a giraffe who had to be convinced to find the proper results. Half-marks for her. 

The pot began to whine and spit its final product into the pot with a choking gurgle. A rich scent filled the room.

Bellwether walked to her booth’s balcony to look down at the bottom of the stadium. Gazelle looked in the mirror to make sure her makeup remained fixed. The bobcat struggled against his captors. He received a blow in his stomach and kept getting forced through the alleys. A dozen hooves checked their phones. Waiting. Watching.

“...production of a substance that doesn’t seem helpful at all. Boiling these flowers, spending thousands of dollars doing it…” She paused. “Well don’t you have anything to say about it?!”

Clive looked up about to answer, when he heard another knock on his door. “Come in.”

The publicist came in panting. “Sorry sir...that I’m late...couldn’t leave…” He spotted Candace there already. “Oh, I thought that...she wasn’t going to be here ‘til—”

“No no, come in.” He motioned the koala inside. “We were just discussing a little bit of business. You’re just in time for coffee, actually.”

“No, Clive,” Candace moved around the desk as he stood up. “I want to hear what you have to say for yourself.”

“Coffee first. Then I’ll tell you everything.”

“Um, Mr. Hoofer?” The koala didn’t stray far from the door. “I can leave and…” he had to catch his breath again, “...come back later if you’d like privacy?”

“I insist you stay. There’s nothing I want to say that you can’t hear.”

He felt Candace’s skeptical eyes on his back as he went to the coffee pot and took three mugs from his shelf. The black steaming beverage swirled in the cups. Clive lifted the sugar lid. Gazelle stepped onto her platform with her backup dancers.  A spoonful of sugar disappeared into the coffee. The bobcat tried to cry out despite his gag. Clive opened a small plastic cup of creamer. Bellwether watched the lights dim. The cream clouded and swirled within the mug, staining the black coffee tan. The sheep forced their prisoner to the left. Watching. Waiting. Judy still sleeping.

“Here,” he handed a mug to the koala, “and here.” He handed the second to Candace. As he stepped back to the machine the glittering lights of Zootopia appeared through the windows, colors cut into black paint. Clive lifted the mug to his lips and took a slow bittersweet sip. 

“Now Clive, what did you want to say to us?”

He closed his eyes at Candace’s assertion. “Mrs. Luppin, always so focused. Never deviating from your charge.” The goat turned around and locked his eyes on hers. “Always looking to get ahead, always looking to climb the ladder.  I mean, looking to be counsel for Mayor Tina Gray? I almost admire your ambition.”

“I don’t believe we were talking about me. We were talking about you.”

“Right, right.” He took another sip of his coffee. “You aren’t drinking?”

Candace glared down at her mug. The audience cheered as Gazelle began to rise onto the stage to a swell of music. The bobcat felt himself dragged across the street. The sheep carried their load up to the fence of Little Rodentia. 

“Mrs. Luppin, you don’t really suspect me of fouling your drink?”

She looked up again. Gave a short curt taste. Clive sat down again as she spoke again. “I’m getting impatient. What is your answer to my accusations?”

At the same moment his phone buzzed again.  It was a single message from Bellwether.

BEGIN

The same message had been sent to a score of other cellphones.

“Stop looking at your phone and talk to me!”

Clive walked around their chairs. The koala and wolf turned their heads to follow. “Mrs. Luppin, you want to know about my work with the  _ Midnicampum holicithias _ flower?”

No response. The goat turned around and looked at his publicist. 

“I appreciate your help.”

Before the koala could meekly thank him, Clive pulled a pistol out of his jacket. He raised it and fired at Candace.

Gazelle sang on stage, her dancers by her side. The pyrotechnics flared just as Bellwether fired. Fire flashed in every camera making the pellet invisible as it smacked right on a tiger’s neck.

The bobcat found himself unbound and ungagged before getting hurled over the fence of Little Rodentia. The shadows obscured his attackers, and he got to his paws just in time to feel a blow on his forehead.

A jaguar sitting at a cafe felt a sting on his shoulder. A bear sitting with his window open. A weasel sleeping in the park. A cheetah waiting in the middle of an intersection. 

Clive calmly stepped outside the door as Candace fell over in her seat. The bitter bite of chemicals overpowered the comely coffee. His publicist jumped onto the floor.

“What-what’s going on?!” He knelt over the wolf as she rolled around in pain. “Clive! Clive what are you doing?!”

The goat sipped his coffee without looking back. He could hear Candace’s groans turn to snarls, felt the koala’s creeping realization build. Clive stepped outside, closed the door, pulled out his key, and locked Candace and his publicist inside.

Gazelle was just hitting a long pitch when she turned and saw her dancer on his knees, his head in his hands. The music kept playing as she stopped singing. She began to approach in concern, putting down her microphone. Before the singer could ask what was wrong, she saw him fall on his side. Saw his eye, devoid of any rational thought, filled with raw instinct.

The bobcat writhed on the outskirts of the borough. Mice and shrews and rats came grumbling out of their apartments to complain about their neighbors’ noise, only to see the massive feline struggling against himself. His mind filled with alarms, his vision swam. He felt dissociated from himself. He was in a corner. He smelled the air. Saw moving shapes. Clawed his face. Clawed the ground. Urges that had been hammered out as a cub came bursting back stronger than ever.

“Mr. Hoofer?” The koala shook the door handle. “Mr. Hoofer open the door! Mr. Hoofer, please open the door!” The wolf growled inside as Clive leaned on the wall, staring into his cup. The sugar hadn’t quite dissolved all the way. He swirled his dregs around to encourage it more.

Gazelle backed away in horror as the tiger got on all fours and snarled at her. The crowd went from cheering to shrieking. Bellwether leaned on the railing and watched her work with satisfaction.

Rodents frantically dialed 911 as yowls and screams pierced the night. Those caught outside didn’t know whether to run and make themselves a target, or freeze and get no closer to escape. They looked up to see a flash of claws or a snap of teeth; for many it was the last they saw. Office buildings were toppled. Cars tossed about like chew toys. Streets gashed by claws.

Tables were overturned as patrons suddenly turned on their waiters. Mammals heard their neighbors at home tear into the walls. Cars swerved as predators dashed into the streets. Another car swerved and crashed into the side of a building, its driver slashing at their upholstery and snarling at anyone who came within fifteen feet.

Clive slowly downed the rest of his coffee, savoring its taste as the koala’s pleading devolved into panicked hollering. There was a vicious yowl. Thud. “MR. HOOFER! CLIVE PLEASE! GOOD GOD HAVE MERCY!”  Claws scraped down the door and away across the carpet. Now came the tearing of clothes and — Clive didn’t let his imagination go further than that.

Gazelle fell back as the tiger leapt on her. The other dancers came to her aid, but not before a paw came down and slashed at her arms. Rodents cowered in their homes and prayed that their neighbor’s scent was stronger than their own. Screams and cries erupted throughout Zootopia as the very semblance of civilization seemed to crack and crumble.  The police scrambled to action as hundreds of calls flooded their lines.

Clive only heard the heavy husky breathing of the wolf inside. He knelt and slid the key under the door. The mug and saucer he rested in the pot of a plant; they were his favorite and he couldn’t have them being broken. Only then did he run off, yelling “Security! Security, help!”

It was about that time that Bogo finally managed to reach Judy.

 


	11. Out of the Ruins

Judy dug into the rubble with one paw. The other paw held a flashlight in trembling fingers.  Dust still clouded the air, choking her throat and revealing the path of her beam. Her ears fell under assault from screams, cries, sirens, the distant snarls of a bobcat being dragged away. She raked through the scattered bricks until she felt her hand touch fur and flesh.

“It’s okay,” she whispered as she pulled another mouse from the ruins of an apartment building. “It’s okay…”

It was an elder, arms over her wizened face. Judy could feel the rodent shivering against her handpaws. The white light carved harsh shadows against her face and the ruined building. The mouse coughed as the rabbit twisted around.

“Here,” she rested the victim on a stretcher. As two tiny paramedics carried her away, Judy returned to her task. She watched her paws as she stepped over, and began to search another building. Darkness danced between the glow of her light as she moved. 

The night sky turned bright again, and golden sunlight peeked over the rooftops. As it did, Judy wished  it had stayed down.  Soft rosy skies stooped to kiss claw-torn facades. Her flashlight had only revealed one section at a time; now she saw the carnage in its entirety.  Rodents scrambled through debris, crying for their loved ones trapped under steel and cement.  She cursed her sharp ears; every wail, every lamentation over a lost child or wife or parent reached her whether she wanted or not. The thinness of the voices did not mask the grief that they carried.

The rabbit kept digging through her breakfast break, her stomach gnawing itself out of desperation. She ignored it and focused on her task. That is, until she got a call from Bogo.

“How’s the situation?”

Judy had to take a second to answer. “We’re finding more mammals,” she finally decided to just be straight-forward.“It’s going slow though…”

“Is the area under control at least?”

“Yes, we’re just trying to find as many victims as we can.”

“Listen, I need you to leave them for now. Voting booths at Walnut and Oat, there’s a commotion going on. We need you there now.”

Judy picked her way out of Little Rodentia, finally squeezing through the gate and into the streets.  Her paws carried her past faces and mammals that she didn’t look at. The rabbit veered left without checking for traffic — she just barely avoided getting ran over as she dashed across the street. Finally she arrived, out of breath, to see two groups going at each other.

One group formed a line that funneled into St. Furtunata church. The second group hurled jeers and trash. Judy couldn’t discern individual words, but she didn’t need them to hear the anger that they had.

“Alright, back away!” Judy stepped in front of them and put up her handpaws. “This is a polling place, no political activities within one hundred feet—”

“You’re just gonna let them get away with it then?!” An angry horse jabbed her hoof at a pair of tigers in line. “They’re going to kill us if they get the chance!”

“I said back off!” Judy stepped closer, and despite her size she managed to get the horse to comply. “Let them vote!”

“Who do you think they’re going to vote for? The candidate whose right-hand woman just murdered someone, that’s who! Damn chompers can’t open their eyes and see what’s better for everyone.”

Judy ignored the rhetoric and tried her best to keep the mob at bay. The line of mammals bit by bit inched into the church, and whenever a predator approached the door there was a renewed chorus of insults. Some stood firm and bore it. Others cast wary glances. A few actually shuffled back out of line. Judy began to shout herself hoarse as she barked orders to the crowd, until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hopps,” it was McHorn. “Chief wants you back at station. I’m taking over.”

“Oh thank God,” she finally let her arms fall. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” he put his hooves up. “Union mandated break.”

“A break’s a break.” Judy suddenly felt her stomach rumble, and all at once her body was allowed to feel the fatigue that she had been ignoring. “Yeah...yeah I kinda need a rest...”

She took the train back to Savannah Central and plodded into the station. Judy approached her cubicle, went straight past it, and neared the water cooler.  Her lids sagged as she took a plastic cup and filled it with water. Then her paw shot up and splashed it in her face. 

Instinct shot her eyes wide open as she staggered back a bit. Cold refreshment dripped from her fur. The tiredness startled back...but quickly returned. Judy’s ears drooped, her eyes begged to close. She turned and groped for the coffee machine, opened the top, inserted a pod, and began brewing herself a cup of espresso.

“Oh boy,” a zebra came up behind her, sipping on his own mug, “never thought you were a coffee person Hopps.”

“‘M not,” she grumbled. “But desperate times, Tepe.”

“Is it even safe for a rabbit to have coffee like that?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I’m not worried about you,” Tepe gestured with his cup, “I’m worried about the rest of us. You’re energetic enough without caffeine in your system.”

Judy felt too tired to even comment. As her coffee spat itself into the mug she rubbed her eyes. 

“Oh, look at that…”

Tepe’s voice made her look up. The break area had a television installed; it showed the news now, with the two ZNN anchors sitting in front of a map of the city.  The different boroughs were displayed white, but the snow leopard approached the background.

“Results are starting to come in,” she said to the camera. “The Canopy currently stands at seventy-two percent for Bellwether, twenty-eight percent for Gray.” She tapped the corresponding patch and turned it green. “Vole Garden is reporting in at eighty-seven percent for Bellwether, thirteen percent Gray.” Again, a green color. “Hyenahurst, forty-five percent Bellwether, fifty-five percent Gray.” A yellow tile appeared. 

“Have to say,” the moose commented, “it’s certainly exciting to see this election happening in our lifetimes. An incumbent who assumed office because of her predecessor’s arrest, a challenger whose cabinet has been detained. And in the middle of their battle, a city facing the greatest crisis of the century so far. We are truly watching history in the making here, ladies and gentlemammals.”

“In one form or another,” his co-anchor added as she sat down. Despite her ability to put on a professional air, Judy could see the deep-rooted worry in her eyes. “Today the city must decide between two different agendas, and the choice will have wide consequences for a lot of people.”

The moose was handed a sheet of paper while she spoke. When she had finished, he said. “We will keep you informed as more results come in. In the meantime, we have an urgent bulletin from Mayor Dawn Bellwether.”

The scene switched to the sheep standing behind a podium, lights flashing from dozens of cameras. She began to speak:

“My fellow Zootopians, I know that today we are in the middle of an election, one that will decide whether I will  stay in office as your mayor.  I realize that it’s inappropriate to reach out to the public when such a vital process is underway. However, I feel like the situation demands a different set of niceties.

“Last night, a series of attacks ravaged the city center. For months we’ve grappled with a plague of savage predators that threaten our way of life. But these recent attacks have gone further than any others before. Our neighbors and family were assaulted, sometimes in their own homes. One of our beloved cultural icons was attacked on stage, ironically by the very mammals she was trying to help. Even in the halls of government, a representativemurdered one of my own staff in cold blood…” 

Bellwether choked up. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed her eyes.

“...a close friend of mine, dear to our campaign, torn to pieces on the job.” She gave another small sob, sounding like a kit. “But even that tragedy couldn’t prepare me for the heartbreak I saw this morning at Little Rodentia. They didn’t want me to go, but I insisted. And as I came to fence, and I saw what had befallen our smallest citizens…” She paused again, nodding her head with emotion. “Our city has been struck to its heart. Our peaceful citizens are no longer free to live their lives.  Our streets are unsafe. And with today an election, I wonder how many mammals will be too scared to leave their homes to visit the voting booth? 

“I have been making every attempt to convince the council that broad measures are needed. We could have stopped these attacks, I know it. Little Rodentia could still be whole, my friend could still be alive. But we didn’t act, we couldn’t act, because of gridlock brought on by predators. Their blind loyalty to other mammals based on pure physical traits made them vote down the most effective legislation, and now their paws are bloodied by the events of last night!”

Bellwether took a deep breath to steady herself and her rising voice. She leaned closer to the microphone.

“I refuse to leave office without making at least one step to restoring peace and prosperity to our city. That’s why I’m issuing the Little Rodentia Memorial Order, in the memory of those who perished last night. The Savage Predator Emergency Commission will be allowed additional oversight over public spaces, and the ability to contain threats as they emerge. By taking these steps—”

“Well,” Judy jumped as she heard Bogo’s voice behind her. He stared through his glasses at the screen. “Apparently the mayor beat me to the punch.”

“Chief,” she gave a quick and crisp salute, despite the fact her arm felt leaden. “Sir, I was just going to come into your office.”

“Yes, please. We have assignments to talk about.” Bogo folded his glasses away as he began to turn around. However, his eyes rested on the mug. “Did you drink any of that?”

“No,” Judy suddenly stiffened. “Do you think it’s…?”

“Oh no,” he shook his head quickly, realizing her fears. “No I don’t. But I’m fairly sure the last thing you need is caffeine. What you’re about to hear will keep you awake plenty.”

* * *

 

“Judy,” Lucas’ voice came from the other end of the phone, “this...this isn’t saying what I think it’s saying?”

She leaned onto Bogo’s desk, the chief sitting across from her and both hunched over the speakerphone. Her head shook in horror as she re-read the words aloud. “‘Section Four-Two-One A: The Savage Predator Emergency Commission, having been previously established, may  hereby act with all powers of a regularly constituted police force.’”

“Legal talk has always been my brother’s specialty,” Lucas replied. “What EXACTLY does that mean?”

“I don’t think we’re actually getting replaced,” Bogo shook his head. “But it does mean that Bellwether’s getting her own private force.” 

“My God…” Pierce’s voice came now. “And with Hoofer at the head of the SPEC, it’s really his private army more than Bellwether’s.”

“Yeah,” Judy agreed. She flipped through the papers. “I read through more of it, it’s entirely assembled by the mayor and doesn’t have many restraints. But that’s not the worst of it.”

“Bellwether has her own paramilitary goons,” Lucas blurted. “How can this get any worse?”

Judy flipped several more pages before finally coming to the next tract. “This one’s kind of long, but to sum it up, the law authorizes the movement of households to other parts of the city if they’re deemed a threat.”

Silence. Pierce slowly asked, “...now  _ I  _ want to know what exactly that means?”

“Internment,” Bogo said. “We received orders from Bellwether today. All predators are to be moved to Glacier Falls.”

“WHAT?!” Lucas’ voice nearly broke the speaker. Both Judy and Bogo jumped at it. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT PREDATORS ARE BEING FORCED INTO GLACIER FALLS?!”

“Lucas, Lucas oh my God!” Pierce tried to calm his brother down, both of their voices mixing and rendering each other incoherent. Finally Pierce’s voice triumphed. “We have to keep calm about this! We have to figure out what to do from here.”

“Here’s what I’m going to do,” Judy said. “I’m going to be taking charge of the internment—”

“Is that supposed to help us feel better?!” Lucas blurted out.

“If you please,” Bogo halted the interruption. “If we don’t carry this out, Hoofer’s going to do it himself, and the ZPD will be powerless. And if Hopps is on the ground giving orders, I for one believe it will go more smoothly than if a Bellwether sympathizer is put in charge.”

Silence again. “Okay, listen.” Pierce said. “Things are getting really bad over there. I’m coming to Zootopia myself. Now hear me out,” he pre-empted both Judy and his brother. “Lucas, you need to be here to work on the antidote.  But if I can help organize the predators, and give a little aid where it’s needed, then we can get through this. I need to be on the ground for that to happen though.”

“With all respect,” Judy stared at the phone, “I feel like predators should be getting away from Zootopia, not flocking here.”

“Judy,” now Lucas responded, “Zootopia is for all mammals. Predators have just as much a right to be there as prey do. I’m going to talk to my brother about this plan...but we will be helping in any way we can. How’s Tina Gray doing?”

“She’s doing damage control. With Luppin in custody, her campaign is crippled. All we can hope is that she still manages to pull out ahead, carry the election, and then we won’t even have to worry about all this.”

“Keep dreaming, Hopps.” Bogo was looking at his phone. “ZNN just called it. Landslide victory, including in the Council.” 

He stared up, and for a terrifying moment Judy saw actual fear in his eyes, something she thought him incapable of feeling. 

“Bellwether’s in control now.”


	12. The Movement Begins

Judy stepped inside the apartment entrance and shivered the snow from her shoulders. The hall led to a stairway that began to spiral up. She followed the steps to the third floor; the door was already open, and she could hear someone moving boxes inside. 

“Pierce?”

“I’m here! Come in,” he called back.

Judy entered into the apartment. Far from the spacious Canisson manor, Pierce’s temporary abode was tiny. A mattress sat on a bed frame, still undressed, right across from a plain counter with a sink and oven built in. The bathroom branched out through a plain door. Other than that there were no other rooms. Floorboards creaked under her paws, and the walls were white: not a fresh clean white, but the dingy unfinished shade of white that indicates absence. Pierce himself stood, folding clothes and shoving them into a wooden dresser. 

“Are you sure you wanna stay here?” Judy asked. “I can get you located in one of the nicer buildings.”

“This is a bad neighborhood?”

“Yeah, we’ve had some trouble around here.”

“Then this is the area that’s going to need me the most,” Pierce nodded as he shut the drawer. “As for the conditions...an airline once made me sleep twenty-nine hours in an airport. With all the chairs full I ended up behind a garbage can.” He winked, making his scar flutter. “I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I am, I promise!” 

Judy nodded, looking down at her handpaws. Then she went to the single dirty window that the apartment had. Two different officers appeared in the streets: there were the blue uniforms of the ZPD, and the brighter uniforms of the SPEC. They had black body armor, with red vests. Bright white letters on the back stated their organization name. Together they were directing reindeer, rabbits, elephants, all different prey animals from their homes. 

She heard Pierce come behind and look over her shoulder. “It seems to be going smoothly enough.” 

“This is the easy part,” she remarked bitterly. “They’re getting paid for their ‘sacrifice’.”

“Are the predators going to be as lucky?”

“What do you think?” 

Pierce stayed quiet for a while. “I can’t believe this...I thought we’d evolved past this as mammals.” 

He turned back to his unpacking, leaving Judy to her thoughts. She stared out the window for a long while. The scene below had a bleached palette, with snow speckling the red and blue uniforms with white. Slushy grey pawprints trailed behind the departing families. The swooping edges of the buildings reached high as they stood empty, excepting any predators who remained inside. 

“I hate this,” Judy muttered. Pierce stopped rummaging around and looked at her. “I...I can’t believe I have to be a part of this.”  She crossed her arms and held herself tightly. “I always dreamed of helping people...but now I’m going to go out there and do something monstrous. And that’s all they’re going to see.”

“Having second thoughts?”

Judy shook her head. “No, no I can’t afford second thoughts.” She took a deep breath. “I need to look good for Bellwether. If I try to stop this, she’ll lock me up, or worse, and then I can’t do anything. But this way, I can at least do a little good, make things a little easier.” Her ears drooped behind her head, “Knowing that doesn’t make me feel any better though.”

She lingered silently by the window. Her eyes darted around outside. 

“Judy.  As a predator, I don’t blame you for what’s going on here. They won’t understand now, but in the future people will recognize your efforts.” He paused again. “What’s important is to think about what we  _ can  _ do now. You arrested Bellwether’s accomplice, right? Weren’t you going to start investigating him for information?”

“Heh,” Judy scoffed and turned back to him. “Two problems with that. First, whatever we discover we can’t get into the news. Bellwether’s locked down the news stations, and the Internet won’t give us much credibility. Second, Doug’s not in jail anymore. In all the commotion yesterday, we got the order to release him in the evening.”

Pierce looked at her in alarm. “He doesn’t...know anything about you, does he?”

“Nothing for certain, but if I stopped him from darting Gray, he knows I don’t hate predators.” Judy balled up her paws. “I’m just...he was our link, he was the smoking gun. All we had to do was follow his bank, and we’d nail Bellwether! We could get foreign intervention if nothing else! And she took it away, she’s taking all the loose ends away!” She growled and clenched her fists in front of her. “Our last chance is that cure. Tell me you guys at least got those toxin capsules I sent?”

“Yeah, we got some more work done.” He pulled out a small wooden clock and set it on the shelf; the ticking filled the air. “But we really need access to the savage predators to get anywhere near completion.”

Judy snarled in frustration. “Well Bellwether’s not going to let you anywhere near them! And neither will Hoofer!” She looked around. Judy wanted something, anything to punch. Something to fill in for the sheep’s face. Finding nothing that she could exert her rage on, she simply slammed her fist into her palm. “There has to be something we can do!”

“Like I said, we need to have mammals we can test the antidote on.”

“Unless you know how to sneak in there and run the tests without SPEC knowing, I think we need a different approach.”

“You’re right. We can’t run the tests in there.” He smirked a little bit. “That’s why we’re breaking some of them out.”

Judy’s ears perked up at this. “What?”

“We can’t keep all of them, but we can take about ten with us back to the lab. We’re talking to a lynx and his partner, they have a team that will be just the mammals we’re looking for. We’re going to storm the Zootech campus after hours, and get as many out as possible. Now,” he pre-empted her, “we’re hoping to get someone inside to give us a way in. Would you be willing to help with that?”

“You couldn’t keep me out of this even if you wanted to.” Judy nodded resolutely. “I have one condition though: we’re breaking out Nick.”

“Judy…” It sounded like Pierce was about to explain why it was impossible. But then he looked at her. Judy could feel the fierceness radiating from her body, her defiance. She silently dared him to complete his sentence. Finally he did. “He means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

“More than you know,” she spoke coldly.

“Then on my honor as a Canisson,” Pierce laid a paw over his heart, “we will break Nick out of prison, and get him to safety.”

“Thank you.”

“You know,” he pulled a picture of himself and Lucas from his suitcase and set it on a shelf, “Lucas was really astounded when he heard about you and a fox being together. He never thought it would happen, but—”

“Oh, we’re not together like that,” Judy corrected him. “He’s just a very...close friend of mine.”

“When you were talking about him just now,” Pierce countered, “that sounded like a lot more than casual friendship.”

Judy growled again. “Look, I’m sorry but I don’t have time to go into this with you! I still don’t know how I’m supposed to go out there and face everyone, or how I can face ANYONE after today is over!” She sank onto the bed. “See, this is what I’m talking about. I hate this, I hate it so much…”

The rabbit buried her face in her paws. She heard only her breathing, Pierce’s, and the incessant ticking of the clock as it marched on with or without her.  The radio on her shoulder crackled. 

“Hopps? We’re ready to start moving preds in.”

Judy gulped.  With a deep inhale, she got off the bed again. Pierce watched her with careful eyes, his scar following the contour of his concerned brow, as she answered. 

“Okay, let’s begin.”

* * *

 

“Alright, everyone,” Judy held a megaphone in one paw while gesturing widely with her other, “keep moving, your cooperation will help make this an orderly transition.”

She paused to wipe her brow. Palm View shimmered around her, the heat distorting her vision ever so slightly. She could see clearly enough, though, the line of predators leaving their homes. Judy set the megaphone down on her cruiser (which for once was just her size). With a heavy heart she went up the steps of a light-colored townhouse and knocked on the door. It never got any easier.

The door opened and revealed a cheetah, who had an uncertain look in her eyes.

“Mrs. Chozi?”

“That’s me,” she spoke with defiance, despite an underlying sense of fear.

“You’ve been selected for relocation. Our reports show you have three children?”

“That’s right.” The cheetah let her in, and Judy entered the front hall.

“You will be transferred to an apartment that will be able to house you all. You’re each allowed to bring one suitcase with you.”

“One suitcase?!” Mrs. Chozi looked around in panic. “We’ve been packing everything we could, I didn’t know there was a limit on what we could bring!”

“Mommy,” a voice came from down the hall, “I can’t fit my cars in the bag!”

“Mo, honey, I don’t think we can—”

“He can bring them.” 

Mrs. Chozi glanced over at Judy again. “B-but you said—”

“What I said, I had to read from a script.  I’m telling you, gather up anything you need, anything you want to take. If you have any trouble with the other officers, tell them to talk to me.”

“Yes, Officer Hopps. And thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do…” She bit her lip. “And…” The cheetah paused as she was about to turn around. “I’m sorry. We’re going to make this better.  _ I’m  _ going to make this better, I promise you.”

Mrs. Chozi stared for a moment, making sense of her words. Then she gave a firm nod. 

“Alright, we’ll be back in a bit to check on you. I really appreciate you—” The sound of breaking china outside made her ears perk up. The rabbit ran out the door to see what was happening. 

In the brownstone next door a short old cougar stood in the doorway, a pile of brightly-colored plates in her hand.  With a rage she hurled them (more forcefully than her age should have allowed) at the head of one of the SPEC officers, a pony who was shielding his face with his arms.

“Ma’am, ma’am please!” The pony dashed behind his squad car for cover. “I’m trying to be reasonable with you! All I said was that you couldn’t take them with you!””

With a furious yet aged yowl, the cougar threw all the dishes on the steps of the building. “These were priceless family heirlooms! I will not leave them for you to steal!” With a huff she reached back inside, grabbed a single tiny case, and began to storm down the street.

“Why that crazy old dingbat,” the SPEC officer scowled now that she was gone. He pulled his taser out of his belt and began to stomp after her. 

“Not so fast!” Judy barked at him. “Put that taser away right now, officer.”

The pony glared at her for a second. Judy let her hand gravitate towards her belt. If she had to take him down...but in the end he sighed and put his weapon away. She watched him leave with stern eyes, picking up her megaphone without looking. “Come on, we have to get the area clear by nightfall.  I need cooperation from the citizens, and patience from the officers. We’ll make this as painless as possible for everyone involved.”

As soon as she spoke, the radio on her shoulder crackled to life. “Hopps! We’re having a confrontation at the Gobi Apartments. We need you here.” 

“On my way,” she answered. She opened the door of her cruiser. The drive over got slowed by the congested streets; predators flooded the roads in their forced migration. Judy kept her windows rolled down, and her ears twitched back and forth as she scanned through the tumult of voices. There were parents calling for cubs to hurry up, the same cubs complaining about things left behind, elder mammals grumbling about the fuss. And laced in it all, uncertainty. Where are we going? Where’s that address? What about work? Will the rent change? Isn’t it cold? Where will I go to school? Who will I play with? In the sea of predators, the questions leapt about like dolphins, flitting here and there and cackling as they spun through the air. 

When she finally pulled up to the Gobi Apartments and turned off her vehicle, Judy could practically smell the poverty in the air. Either the sewer had burst nearby, or the garbage had gone uncollected. Either way this part of the city clearly hadn’t the wealth to be considered politically important enough to tend to.  Cracks webbed the pale brick of the apartment building; they had been plastered over and left without repainting. From inside, Judy could hear shouts.

“Let ‘er go! I say let ‘er go!”

“Stop resisting at once!”

“Not until ya let ‘er go!”

Judy dashed in through the front entrance. The door opened to a central cement courtyard, with a skylight open to the blazing sun above. In the middle of the courtyard, a SPEC goat was grappling with a llama. 

“Yer not gonna take ‘er ‘way!” The llama shoved the officer back and blocked an open door, planting his hooves on the frame. Peering inside, Judy could see a wolf, barely out of high school, peeking out.

“This isn’t your concern,” the SPEC officer jabbed with his thumb. “Go back to your own place and let us do our job.” There were two other officers, who carried nightsticks and padded them threateningly on their paws and hooves. 

“Yer job is hogwash!” He glanced at one of them, who was a pig, “And I mean every offense by that,  _ sir _ .”

“Come on, break it up!” Judy clapped her paws together, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Hopps,” the officer started. “This guy—”

“I heard plenty. Now, you three, back off.” The three SPEC officers complied. “Thank you. Now, sir,” she turned to face the llama. “I have to say, I admire any citizen who has the courage to stand up against abuses of authority. Unfortunately, the law requires us to relocate your friend here. But I assure you, nothing bad will happen to her.”

“Your word?” The llama scoffed. “We all know your word, Rabbit. We all know what you think.” He spat at her footpaws before sulking away. “Go ahead then. Her blood is on your paws.”

The three officers began to close in on him, but Judy put her paw up. “No, just...help her move out.” She stared after the old llama, his arched spine swaying as he gave one final glare before slamming his door shut. The pig officer went over to the apartment. He pulled a pad and pen from his pocket and began to write. “What are you doing?”

“Making a note,” the pig nodded his head at the llama’s door. “Keepin’ an eye on potential troublemakers. Gotta keep the peace, stop crime before it happens.” 

It didn’t sit right with Judy, but before she could ask further, her attention was drawn by the young wolf being shepherded from her apartment. Two of the SPEC officers, including the pig, escorted her out. However, the goat was nowhere to be seen. Judy stepped into the apartment to look for him.  She went past the combined living room and kitchen, around a divider, and into a small bedroom. The walls were cheaply built; clearly though, the wolf had made an attempt to cheer the room with a pair of posters. One poster showed off a popular boy band, The Untamed Sabertooths (which was ironically made up of otters). The other had a starfield with the words “Reach for the heavens.” Judy turned to see a bed with green and grey sheets, and a brown dresser, and the SPEC goat, rummaging around in the dresser, oohing over something and pocketing it. “What are you doing?”

He jumped at her voice. “Oh! Just, uh, looking for evidence. Never know if one of these chompers was planning to cause any trouble.”

Judy came up to him. “Well, sounds like you found plenty of exciting evidence. Can I see it?”

“No no, I found nothing!”

“Then why did you put in your pocket? Come on…”

The goat gulped. Then he shyly pulled out a brilliant turquoise stone, suspended from a gold chain.

“Put it back.”

“But we were told that we could confiscate anything that caught our—”

“Excuse me, but who’s in charge of this operation?”

“...you are.”

“That’s right, so you better listen very closely.” She hid her utter contempt beneath a layer of sweetness. The goat was twice her height, but she could see the way he flinched away from her. “You call it ‘confiscating’. I call it ‘stealing’. My opinion is the only one that matters today, so you’re going to put that jewel back and not put your filthy little hooves on anything else that’s not yours. And if you don’t do what I say,” her voice began to rise, “then I will have you suspended without pay for a year, and that’s if I can’t get your badge melted down and returned to you as paperclips!”

“Y-y-you can’t do that!”

“Ohhhh, I’ll find a way,” she narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger up at his face. “Don’t you dare try me…” 

With that Judy gestured him out the door. She took a deep breath and checked her papers again. No more predators here. With no one else trying to call her, she decided to patrol around and make sure everything was going smoothly. Returning to the simmering sidewalk, she paused to let a family of lions go by, two parents and three cubs. They looked down as they passed, the mother holding her cubs close. Feeling again that creeping guilt, Judy tried to shake it off and got into her cruiser. She was about to turn the ignition when a paper under her windshield wipers caught her attention.

She leapt out of her car and snatched it. At the top of the flyer was a snarling head — Judy couldn’t tell if it was canine or feline or ursine, some combination of the three. Below it there were words:

PREDS DESERVE BETTER

There is only one organization that has always stood up for predators. Only one group reaches as far as we do. Only one group is willing to do what it takes to restore nature. Through our combined strength we can protect our lives.

MAKE THE WORLD WHAT IT WAS MEANT TO BE

JOIN THE GOLDEN CLAW

Judy felt her guts chill at the message.  The supremacist group hadn’t been prominent in Zootopia for decades! She looked up and down the street; the same flyers sat under the wipers of every vehicle. With a grim determination Judy began to pluck them all out, hopping up onto the hoods if necessary to retrieve the papers. She pressed them all under her arm, and they made an unpleasant sound as they rubbed against the synthetic materials of her uniform. 

Bit by bit she worked her way to the Oasis Plaza. The glittering palm hotel stood high above the rest of the skyline. Poverty had given way to wealth and glamour, and it seemed the roads themselves sparkled. Predators were lined up at the monorail station, waiting to take the Zootopia Loop past Tundra Gate and to Glacier Falls. The already searing heat was magnified by the agoraphobic closeness of the crowd. Judy had to worm her way between a moving forest of legs, collecting up the flyers before anyone could see.

That’s when she noticed the tiger in the corner.

Tucked behind the corner of a building, well away from the crowd, he had found a little alcove. He was young, probably in college. The appearance was accented by his pink collared shirt and khaki slacks.  He had a bucket and a sponge, and seemed to be soaking himself in water. It dribbled over his head, soaked into his fur. All the while he had a detached look.

“Hey, hey!” Judy tried to wave to him. “Are you doing alright?” 

But the crowd drowned her voice. Frustrated, she began to wrestle her way towards him.

“Hey! Listen, I know it’s hot, but you have to keep going! You can bathe once you get to Glacier…”

As she came out of the crowd and approached him, she paused. He had a box in his hand, which he pulled a match out of. The tiger turned around at her voice. His eyes were empty and desperate. He set the match onto the box. At the same time, Judy could smell that it wasn’t water.

It was gasoline.

A spark took root. Yellow petals spread over his body and lashed out at Judy’s face.  With a scream she stumbled back. The tiger shouted and rushed forward. Arms and flames flailed. The crowd erupted as the fire rushed them. Like a madman the blossom ran, alive in its own right. Judy saw the mammals part to form a corridor. The tiger accepted the invitation and dashed along it. But he never reached the end. Still yelling he stumbled and sank to his knees. Claws grasped the air. Then he rolled over, flames still licking at his body, his instincts commanding him to put it out in a futile attempt to save himself.

Every muscle of Judy’s body quivered. For once her ears failed. She could not hear, she could barely even feel the cement beneath her handpaws. She could only see — see the hungry flames angrily beginning to die, see the terrified faces from the predators, see fathers covering their cubs’ eyes, see the flyers she dropped fluttering away in the breeze, see the words quietly demanding as they curled past the body.

The fire died at last. The tiger remained still.


	13. ZooTech Medical Center

Judy hated to go back into any hospital after her imprisonment in one. Nevertheless, she sat in the lobby at ZooTech Medical Campus, her fingers nervously drumming on the hat in her paws. The room itself felt like it had been sterilized before the designers remembered to give it some kind of welcoming feeling; there was a row of huge plastic chairs for elephants, then medium and small ones. Rodents were accommodated in another room entirely.  At the moment, Judy sat in front of an elk who kept itching at his antlers, and behind a beaver whose tail seemed off-kilter. All the while, student doctors walked about behind the desk.

She had two goals here. At the moment, she simply had to wait to be taken to the first.

Finally a giraffe orderly motioned to Judy. “Officer?”

“Hm?”

“The room is ready for you.”

Judy stood up and followed the towering mammal, who had to duck his head through the doorway.  The orderly led her to a staircase; two flights up, Judy found herself in a long bright hall.  As they walked down the corridor, the giraffe spotted a pair of beavers, standing one upon the other, trying to get a photo through the window of a door.

“For the last time,” the orderly snapped, “no paparazzi!” The beavers looked up at his voice in alarm, and they tumbled over. “Security!”

“We’re goin’, we’re goin’, sheesh…” the beavers grumbled as they picked up their fallen pride and skulked back to the stairway. Judy watched them leave, then looked at the door. Standing on her toes, she could just peek in through the window.

“Oh my gosh,” her heart suddenly started racing. “Gazelle?!” The pop singer was reading an old magazine. A bandage covered the far side of her face.

“Don’t even think about getting autographs,” the giraffe warned. “You’re already disturbing one of our patients, we don’t need you disturbing another one.”

“Right, yes, of course.” Judy reminded herself of her duty, but nevertheless the buzz of being starstruck hummed in the back of her skull. That excitement fizzled down and disappeared when the giraffe paused, and opened one of the doors. 

“Here he is.”

Two nurses, both bison, looked up. They stooped over the tiger, applying an ointment over his burns. Seeing Judy they began to come around the bed. 

“Five minutes,” the giraffe said, “and then we need to continue our treatment.” 

Judy nodded in understanding. Once the nurses and orderly had left them alone, she turned to the tiger. She had uncovered plenty about him: he was a third-year physics student here at ZooTech. He lived with both parents, and an older brother currently worked at a local law firm. The family had been displaced however, thanks to the internment.  With this rough picture in her head, she nervously cleared her throat.

“Hello?”

A long sigh came from tiger’s mouth. He lay a bit above her, so Judy dragged over a stool to stand on. Upon it, she could look him in the eye. Eye singular; the other half of his face was hidden beneath a plaster cast. His orange fur had been singed brown and in some places had disappeared entirely to bare skin. Red burn scars crossed his body. The fanged mouth hung open for breath, and the golden eye gazed back full of sorrow. Despite having not moved in nearly twenty-four hours, the tiger seemed exhausted.

“Hey,” Judy softly began. “Can you hear me?”

The mouth closed. There was a swallow. The tiger exerted so much energy to breathe out “...yes…”

“My name is Officer Hopps.” At this he groaned, and turned his head so that she only saw it from profile. The free eye scanned the ceiling. “I just want to ask you some questions about what you did.”

He breathed out a long pained groan, which she took as a sign of assent.

“Why did you set yourself on fire?”

He took a deep rasping breath. “...get…” Breath. “...attention…”

“For yourself, or for a group?”

“For...all...predators…” Still that eye faced upwards.

“Some of my coworkers think that you might have been done this with the backing of the Golden Claw. Is that true?”

At this she saw him muster up a weak headshake. “No...no…”

“So you did this by yourself?”

“No.” His sudden determination startled her, even though his voice was faint as ever. “There are...more...of us…” The tiger tilted his head ever so slightly, and his eye fixed upon her. “We will...burn...ourselves...all of us…”

“No,” Judy shook her head in horror. “No, you can’t do that...”

“Then...give us...justice…” With a heavy sigh he turned back to face the ceiling. Judy couldn’t get anything more out of him.

When the orderly finally came in and shooed her from the room, Judy waited until she was outside the doors again. Then she asked, “How do you think he looks?”

The two bison nurses looked at each other. Then one of them said in a low voice, “It’s a miracle he’s lasted this long. But at the moment, we’re making his last moments as painless as possible.

“Hold on a second,” Judy began to grow indignant, “if you let him die because he’s a predator—”

“No no!” The other said. “We—we would never do that. But his injuries are so severe. His entire body was burned, and he’s been infected from the open air...I promise we’re trying our best, but there’s only so much we can do.” 

Judy looked back at the door. She let her anger simmer away. “Alright,” she nodded. “But do everything you CAN do.”

As she walked away, she thought about the tiger’s warning. There’d be more demonstrations… more burnings… until she could stop Bellwether.  Judy was so wrapped in her thoughts that when the elevator doors opened at the end of the hallway, she didn’t register the image at first. But when she heard the voice, she froze.

“Let me go!” Tina Gray shouted. “For the last time, I am not savage! I am totally healthy, I promise!” 

Judy stared as the tiger was pinned in place by four sheep. “Go on, get off!” they yelled at a hare who scampered off the elevator. The hare looked back as the sheep continued to wrestle their capture. “Get a muzzle on her, now!”

“I am NOT savage!” Tina kept insisting, a hint of fear in her voice. “Get your hooves off of me! Let me—”

Then her eyes met with Judy’s. Without the sheep noticing, they shared an understanding. Tina’s eyes filled with nothing but trust, and Judy nodded in confirmation.  _ I promise _ , she tried to communicate. In her final moments of dignity, Tina managed a small proud smile.

A muzzle slipped over Tina’s face, and her snout was roughly forced to the side as the elevator doors closed.  Then she was taken up to wherever the savage predators had been dumped.

Judy stared at the stainless steel doors for a while. Tina was gone… but there was still a chance to save her, to stop this madness. But could she? She couldn’t even save one tiger from killing himself…

“What was that?” Another familiar voice sounded behind her. Judy whirled around in shock and saw Gazelle peering out from her door.  

“Oh! Oh, uh, there was a, um…” Judy cleared her throat. She decided that a half-truth would best shield the horror of the situation. “There was an altercation, here…”

She seemed to pick up on Judy’s awkwardness. “Hmmm...are you a fan?”

“Who, me? I mean, I certainly enjoy your music, very energetic.” Judy mentally patted herself on the back for keeping her composure.  At the same time, she felt a pang at seeing one of her favorite stars in this state. Besides the bandage, Gazelle also had a crutch that she leaned on, and even the exposed side of her face had lacerations. 

“Not looking too good, am I?” She smirked. “Here, come in.”

“Are you sure?” Judy looked down the hallway uncertainly. “The orderly didn’t want me disturbing anyone—”

“I’m inviting you inside,” Gazelle chuckled. “Besides, I hardly get any company. Usually it’s a reporter or a photographer, they get what they want and then leave.”

“Ugh, reporters can be so irritating,” Judy agreed as she came in. “I’ve had my own experiences with them.”

“Hm,” Gazelle sat back on her bed. “Like that news conference of yours?”

Judy froze. “Oh my god, you recognize me…”

“As the rabbit who misspoke on television and said that predators were reverting back to their primitive savage ways? Yes I do.”

“Oh god,” Judy felt a blaze of shame on her shoulders. “Listen, it was—”

“But,” Gazelle interrupted her, “I also recognize you as the rabbit who helped protect one of my peace rallies.” She smiled gently. “I remember you standing between mammals, pleading with them to not fight.  You know, I’ve never had a better security detail than you.”

Judy felt her breath steal away. “Wow, I mean...thank you.”

“I’ve heard about everything going on, and it scares me so much. Zootopia’s falling apart, and it's hurting people.” She laid a slender hoof on one of her neck bandages, and scoffed. “And I’m not even getting the worst of it.”

“It’s tearing me up too, to see the city like this.” Judy put on her cap with determination. “But if there’s anyone that can fix it, it’s me and the people I’m working with. And I promise we’re gonna fix it.”

“If everyone had your spirit,” Gazelle smiled, “we wouldn’t have this mess to begin with.” She offered a hoof. When Judy accepted it, she felt a squeeze. “Officer Hopps, you’re a brave rabbit. We’re counting on you now. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. And keep trying.”

Judy couldn’t help but grin. “Thank you Gazelle. I promise we’ll make this right.” She replaced her cap on her head, and began to head to the door.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Gazelle suddenly reached over to her bedside table. “Would you like an autograph?”

Judy paused.  _ Remember your professionalism _ , she told herself…

“Okay, maybe one…”

* * *

 

After Judy exited Gazelle’s room, she padded back to the elevator and stepped inside. Slowly her eyes gravitated to the top floor, which had a paper taped over the number. It exclaimed “RESTRICTED”.  Judy braced herself for whatever she was about to find… then she pushed it in with her thumb. The elevator began to whir upwards, to the tenth floor of the hospital. When it opened, two SPEC officers were waiting at the door for her.  They both carried small automatic weapons.

“Hold it,” a squat capybara held up her paw. “Commission members only.”

“Actually, I’m an officer.”

“I don’t care. SPEC only, no exceptions.”

“Um,” Judy pulled out her badge, “ZPD officer? I just want to look and see that everything’s running smoothly.” She tried to pass around the guard, but the capybara sidestepped to block her.

“You better leave.” Her partner began to tense his grip on his weapon.

Judy felt her eyebrows raise. “Oh? And since when did the SPEC have more power than the police department?”

The capybara opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a smooth voice. “Miss Hopps?”

She froze at the voice, and peered around the two gunmammals before her. Coming up behind them, wearing a long black overcoat, was Clive Hoofer. His hooves were clasped behind his back.

“It’s so good to have you join us here. Both of you, let her be.” The goat smiled warmly as the two guards finally stood aside, letting him face Judy. Despite his friendly appearance, his speech felt deliberated, cleaned and scrubbed and tweaked with every word for a perfect impact. It was impossible to distinguish sincerity from manufactured words. “What brings you our way?”

“Well, I heard a commotion downstairs, and when I came out I saw that the elevator was going to the top floor. I’m just wondering what happened?”

“Ahhh. Yes, we’ve been making a bit of a stir here, I’m afraid.” He chuckled softly. “We’re trying to install soundproofing in the floor below. That is, if we can’t convince the school to let us have it for our own too.” Clive motioned for Judy to follow. “Come. I’ll show you our work.”

Judy felt a moment’s hesitation, but finally stepped after him.  _ Can’t show any fear, any suspicion, have to keep Clive in the dark _ , she reminded herself. “So, what was that noise anyways?”

“Hm? Oh, from the elevator.  Another savage predator, we’re bringing them in all the time.” Clive began to step down the hallway. Now that Judy wasn’t corralled behind a pair of guards, she could see clearly, and she committed as much as possible to memory. The floor was turquoise with light and dark speckles, impossibly polished so that it reflected the fluorescent lights overhead in wavy distorted patterns. On either side, doors appeared in regular intervals. They had plain white faces and round silver doorknobs.  Clive passed them as he continued towards the far end of the corridor. The floor was well-lit, but shadow clung to the edges of the ceiling away from the lights, giving the place an almost haunted feeling; in the middle of the night, damned spirits probably limped circuits through this room.  Adding to the effect were the sounds: echoing snarls, primal cries, distant roars, coming from behind each door.  Judy felt a chill down her spine, but Clive strode confidently. “I heard about your experience yesterday, with the tiger?”

“Oh, yeah.” Judy’s attention switched back from the room to her host. “It was...unnerving, to say the least. I was actually just talking to him downstairs.”

Clive turned his head to stare at her with one eye, never breaking his pace. “You visited him? What for?”

“To figure out why he did it,” she explained casually. “It caused a panic, so naturally I don’t want it happening again.” Judy knew what he was looking for, and made sure to avoid it. 

Clive did seem to relax a bit. “Of course, keep the public safe and secure. Excellent sense of duty. If you don’t mind me asking though, you didn’t really connect with him, right?”

“Connect with him? You mean, empathize with him? That’d honestly be difficult, I don’t know why he’d act the way he did.”

“I’ll show you why,” Clive interrupted. He suddenly paused in front of a door. It had a key card scanner next to it. The goat took out his wallet and waved it in a single motion by the scanner; there was a beep, and the door clicked. Clive turned the handle and pulled the door open, motioning Judy in front of him. This corridor was darker, but light still came from huge windows to the left, a guard before each. Judy stepped forward cautiously to the first one.

The window opened into a cell. A polar bear lay in the middle of the floor, breathing heavily between gritted teeth. He had been wearing a t-shirt and shorts… at least, as far as Judy could tell. They were so torn that it was hard to distinguish what the outfit had been. The eyes showed no sign of coherence, only a blind and pained rage.

“They’re savages,” Clive enunciated each syllable. Judy looked back at him as he spoke. His hooves were still behind his back, and his face nearly expressionless excepting a trace of disgust. “All of them, without exception. What we call ‘going savage’ is just the predator showing off who they really are.” He gestured at the polar bear. “One of history’s greatest mistakes was letting them into modern, civilized society.  They’re thieves and tyrants, and would have us living in supplication to them.” His eyes glared at the polar bear. Then he looked at Judy, and softened. “Pardon me, sometimes I go off on tangents of my own.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Judy laughed nervously, eyes flitting from Clive to the guard to the prisoner. “But you know, I should probably get going, this place kind of gives me the chills.” 

“After what you’ve faced? I’m surprised you’re scared of anything.” He put a firm hoof around her shoulder and steered her away from the door; she struggled to keep away a shudder. “You know, I’ve been wanting to ask you a couple questions, and I hope you will oblige me. First, I want to know more about this assassination attempt on Tina Gray, the one you foiled backstage?”

Judy’s blood ran cold. She was steered past a bobcat, the same one that had wrecked Little Rodentia. Another guard across from it. “Well, there’s not much to say honestly. This ram came up, put together a gun, and tried to shoot Tina in the head.  I stopped him just in time.”

“Yes, I know that much, I read the news. But why?”

She had to take a second to answer. “Because she’s a mammal, and it’s my job to protect mammals?”

“Your job to protect mammals…” He took a deep breath, and squeezed his grip on her arm tighter.  “You know Miss Hopps? I like you. You and I both have ideals, we have things we fight for. You want to make the world a better place. I want to make the world a better place too. I’ll be honest, Dawn is a very nice sheep, but she doesn’t have the drive you have. She’s wrapped up in poll numbers and politics. She has little vision. Not like you…”

They passed by a badger, which had scraped long gashes into the walls and glass. It gave a purring snarl, and the moment it saw the two visitors it hurled its body at the glass. Another guard across from it.

“Miss Hopps, our world is broken, and we can fix it right here in Zootopia. We can demonstrate the future today. Which brings me to my second question: will you be willing to help it along?”

She quickly weighed her responses. “I mean, I’d like to. Depends on what you’d need me to do though.”

“I need a very particular position filled, one that needs a public face that people trust, and a competent mind that works quickly and effectively. The concentration of predators in Glacier Falls has been successful, but we need to make sure that the area is secured. My team will be erecting a perimeter around the area in one week, and the entrance and exit will need a guard unit.” He paused. “Can I count on you to fill that role?”

Judy flashed through the options in her head. She knew why he was offering this job: he wanted to keep an eye on her. The way he looked at her, scanning every second for her reaction, gave it away. But at the same time, the closer she drew to Hoofer, the closer she got to Bellwether. It was dangerous, but also gave her incredible access to their inner workings. “I’ll have to talk it over with the chief… but I would like to take on the position, I’m definitely interested.”

“Oh, I’m happy to hear that.” He finally released her, and she shrugged off his arm, reclaiming her personal space. “I’ll keep you bookmarked then for the role.” Clive peered into the next room. “Ah, here we are.”

They came forward, and Judy gasped. The cell was nearly empty besides its inhabitant. A pair of overturned bowls sat at opposite ends of the cell. In between them sat a fox.

_ Nick… _

Nick laid out on the ground. Upon seeing them, he hissed and backed away, especially from Clive. Once again, his eyes were devoid of any personality. His floral shirt had been reduced to shreds, as well as his pants. 

Clive looked at her sideways. “Is anything wrong, Miss Hopps?”

A dozen expletives ran through Judy’s head, but she simply closed her eyes. “Yeah, I’m just… seeing him again, after what he did to me, is just… it’s hard.”

“I imagine.” He approached the glass barrier; there was a little latch. The goat opened it and slid aside a small three-inch square. “Fox, can you hear me?” 

Clive spoke calmly, but Nick cowered away, growling more loudly than ever. 

“You have a visitor here.” He turned to Judy. “Miss Hopps, anything you’d like to let him know?”

Judy looked at the fox, coiled up in the corner, teeth bared. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but with Clive here… “I have nothing to say to him,” she shook her head.

Once again the goat’s eyes pierced into her, reading her tone, her face, trying to discern her true intentions.  

“Of course Miss Hopps.  It can be difficult to face an abuser like that, and I suppose it was uncouth of me to bring you without giving ample warning of my—”

He was cut off by a vicious snarl. They both looked over in time to see Nick leap across his cell, stick his handpaw through the open window, and sink his claws into Clive’s arm. There was a rip as the coat sleeve tore.

“Augh!”

 The goat fumbled against the wall. Judy jumped back in mute shock. Nick reached through the opening. His green eyes locked on Clive as he swiped at the air. The goat panted as he clamped his hoof over his wound. The koala who’d been standing guard fretted over Clive’s injury, and the others came jogging. “Mr. Hoofer! Sir, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” His cool and collected face was outlined with anger now. “Open the cell. Now.” 

Two guards stood on either side. With a wave of their keycards, the door opened.  Nick shrunk against the wall again, snapping and growling.

“Give me your baton.” The koala complied with Clive’s order. As he approached Nick, the goat held it by his side. With a push of a button it crackled to life with electricity.

“Clive!” Judy spoke up. The goat turned to face her in profile. “He can’t help it, leave him alone.”

The goat stared at her for a moment, keeping his other eye on Nick.

“Hopps, if you’re gonna help me, you need to learn when to be strong.”

Then he turned to face Nick full on. He raised the baton.

If she acted, she’d be found out.  If she ran, she’d be questioned. All she could do was squeeze her eyes shut. She couldn’t see the grim, emotionless expression Clive wore as he acted. She could hear it plenty though: the wicked zaps, the pitiful yelping and crying and screeching, the sudden ruckus from all the other cells. 

_ I’ll get you out of here. I’ll stop this. I promise. _

 


	14. Avoiding Watching Eyes

Lucas yawned, straining to keep his eyes open. Not that it would have helped; he could barely see out of his goggles anyways. The wolf hated the way they felt. Once they steamed up (which only took a few seconds, it seemed), his fur got wet and it began to itch. Of course, he preferred that over the alternative: an eyeful of toxin. Nevertheless he quickly lifted his goggles and ran his clean coat sleeve against his fur before replacing them on his snout.

On the counter, Lucas lined up five graduated cylinders with a clear blue solution inside. Then using a pipette, the wolf siphoned a small amount of different formulas he had been working on and injected them into the cylinders. He stuck a probe into each container, then turned to his computer.

“Come on…” He growled. “Come on…” 

The phone rang and made him jump. 

“Ugh,” he grabbed it. “Yes, who is it?!”

“This is your butler,” the drawling voice answered. Lucas immediately sighed in relief. “I’ve prepared a minestrone for dinner, and I will be rather cross if I am the only one to enjoy it.”

“Right, right. Sorry, didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“I know how your work gets, Master Lucas. I’m just thankful you haven’t died in there.”

Lucas sighed as he pushed away from the counter. “Yeah, I… I think I need a break. Thanks for the call, just give me a bit to wrap up some final notes.”

“No longer than five minutes, understand?”

“I’ll be there.” With that, Lucas hung up.  He watched for the readings to stabilize and then recorded them—the third and fourth solutions were looking good—then pulled off his goggles. Lucas left them on a hook by the lab door, along with his white lab coat. His tail flicked around, joyous to be free of that oppressive garment. The wolf peeled the gloves off his hands and kicked off his protective lab slippers before finally leaving. The sound of his pads on metal could just be heard as he climbed the stairs to the exit. He opened the door and blinked at the night air that came rushing to meet him. “Huh. Didn’t realize the time…”

Chuckling at himself, he began walking back to the manor. The refreshing night breeze helped soothe his sweaty muzzle. The wolf took a moment to take in the outdoors. That’s when he saw the car. 

Lucas paused and stared. A long low luxury car lurked just beyond the guard booth. Its doors were a shiny black, and its driver was shrouded in dark. They were watching him, he could feel their eyes. 

“Hey,” the raccoon guard came out from his booth. “Hey, you lost? Otherwise you have to move, it’s private—”

Before he finished, the car revved its engine and disappeared back towards the city.

* * *

 

Twelve hours later, Judy nearly walked straight into traffic as she left ZooTech. Luckily she caught herself just before she was about to step off the curb. Her mind buzzed so painfully that it was hard to concentrate. Nick’s wild screams still haunted her, the tiger’s words, Tina getting muzzled… as Judy got into her cruiser, she pulled out her phone. Her fingers worked through muscle memory, and soon she heard ringing in her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey Mom.”

“Oh Judy!” The voice immediately brightened. “Honey, how’s it going?”

“I just got out of ZooTech,” she squeezed her eyes shut and rested them on the edge of her steering wheel. “Had to talk to the tiger from yesterday.”

“Is he alright?” Now she could hear concern laced into the words.

“He’s still alive… but not for long, according to the nurses.”

There was a pause. “Judy, are  _ you  _ doing alright?”

She checked the radio to make sure her transmitter was off. “I don’t know, it’s been a crazy week, and I just saw Tina get arrested, and you know I have to walk on eggshells right now.”

“We’re all worried about you.  Terry’s been keeping an eye on the news all day, we can hardly drag him away from the TV!”

“What about the spies?” 

There was a pause on the other end. Then her mother whispered close to the phone, tainting her words with static. “The car just lurks around. Sometimes it parks outside our house, other times Stu sees it driving by our field. I don’t like it, gives us the willies.”

“They’re not doing anything too serious, are they?”

“No, the borough president wouldn’t allow it. Terry said that she’s been resisting Bellwether.”

Judy breathed in relief. “Alright, that’s good to hear.” She paused for a moment. “Hey Mom, I’ve been thinking… is it alright if I come over for a quick visit this weekend?” Judy opened her door and leapt out of the cruiser, deciding to keep it here, and began to head towards the train to Tundratown. 

“Of course, sweetie! Listen, let us know when you’re coming over and we’ll whip up something really special, okay?”

“Thanks Mom. It’ll be nice to just take a breather, you know?” 

“You need it. You’re out there saving the world, it’s what you’ve always wanted. But you can’t do everything Judy. You can try, and you sure do, but in the end you need to be easy on yourself. We’ll be waiting for you at home, we’ve always been.”

“Thank you,” Judy felt her heart lift. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Judy.” With that her phone went silent, just as she turned the corner to see the platform. On the monorail she found herself sandwiched between a yak and three squirrels; down at the end of the car, she also spotted a ram with a SPEC uniform, hooves folded in front of his body, scanning everyone who came in. Judy felt the searching eyes sweep over. She shivered in discomfort, and she could have sworn she felt the same reaction from the others around her. The ride was quieter than it usually was.

The car disappeared into blackness as they went through the climate wall. Shimmering heat found itself supplanted by the biting chill. Judy waited until she heard the computerized voice: “Now approaching: Glacier Falls.” She walked into the icy air alone; the doors shut without any others getting off.  Right across from the platform was the border of the predator community, the middle line of the street. In those same streets, SPEC officers arranged brightly-colored blockades with barbed wire coiled between them. Mammals on both sides watched with wary eyes, including a young armadillo with tan and yellow stripes. Judy came up behind him, his head level with her chest. His small narrow ears flicked as she approached, and he turned to look at her. 

“Hey… you were the bunny on TV!” He grinned and held out his long and slim paw. “I’m Vincent, but my friends call me Vinny.”

Judy gave a thin smile and shook his paw. “Nice to meet you Vinny.”

Immediately his attention shifted to the street. “Do you know what’s going on?” he asked. 

“Well… they’re just putting up something to make sure you’re safe.”

“From what?” He tried to peer into the opposite side. “Was there a radioactive truck spill? I saw that in a movie once, and they had to cory-teen the entire city under a dome.”

“No,” Judy couldn’t help but give an amused sniff, “no dome. Nothing dangerous over there, I promise.”

“Oh good,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “My friend’s over there.”

“Your friend?”

“Yeah, she’s a liger, a lion AND a tiger.” He felt proud of himself, in that youthful way when kids are convinced they’d just taught someone something. “Her parents are super cool, they let us stay up all night and play video games and watch movies. Haven’t seen her in a couple months though.” The armadillo fell quiet. “Mom made me leave school, and I can’t go over to her house anymore.” He stared across the street again. “So why are they putting up the wire like that?”

Judy tried to juggle words around. Finally she settled on, “It’s complicated. When you get older, you’ll understand better.”

“That’s what Mom said,” he sulked. “I just think the whole thing’s stupid.” Suddenly he looked up with terror at Judy. “Don’t tell my mom I said that!”

“I promise,” she couldn’t stifle a small chuckle. “Wanna know a secret? I think it’s stupid too.”

“Really?” Vinny filled with delight. His opinion had been validated by not only a police officer, but also a celebrity. “Wow, thanks Mrs. Hopps!”

“You’re welcome,” she didn’t bother to correct him. “Now, I gotta go in there. You stay outta trouble, okay?”

“Okay, bye Mrs. Hopps!” 

Leaving Vinny behind, Judy dashed across the street and up to a gap in the wire. She slipped through before the SPEC officer managed to close it. Now she was in the predator side of town, and almost immediately it felt shabbier. Only a day of overcrowding and it already felt too worn down. Judy passed by a storefront with a croissant sign hanging above it. Below the sign, an entire crowd of predators clamored against the door.  The owner, an otter, had to stand on a box atop a stool in order to be seen. 

“Everyone, please calm down! I only have five slots open! Please listen!” The crowd quieted a bit. “Thank you. Now, I only need five bakers, so hear me out and make sure this is the job you want. I’ll need you five days a week, thirty-five hours per week, with a starting wage at eight dollars an hour—”

“I’ll go six dollars!” A hyena shouted from the back.

“Five fifty,” came a vixen, “and I’ll work weekends!”

“Four fifty! I have two cubs, I need this job—”

The desperate mob descended into anarchy again, the otter struggling to retain control. Judy passed by and continued on. Cubs played on the sidewalk in that awkward reserved sense that characterizes play with strangers. Neighbors stood in the streets, yelling over conflicted boundaries or debating about forming renters’ associations or whispering in collusions. Laundry hung outside windows and fluttered in the gentle breeze. And on one wall—Judy’s stomach plummeted as she saw the graffiti. There were two yellow squiggles, resembling bared fangs. Two peaks reached down from the top line, while two others reached up from the bottom and in between the top. And beside it words scrawled: PREDS DESERVE BETTER. Making a mental note to have it painted over, she shivered it from her shoulder like snow and continued on.

As Judy approached the building where Pierce lived, she spotted a little sign hanging from a nail on the door. It featured a cute smiling pumpkin over the words “Home Sweet Home”, an attempt to liven the scene. Judy pushed the door open without a second glance at the pumpkin, and soon found herself knocking on Pierce’s door.

“Judy,” the black wolf greeted her when he opened the door. “I got some bad news. Tina’s been arrested.”

“I know, I saw her at the hospital.”

“I can’t believe they darted her,” Pierce shuddered as he closed the door. “We’re gonna have to—”

“No no, she wasn’t darted,” Judy corrected him. “I saw her, she was coherent and speaking.”

“What?” Pierce’s scar arched as his brows lifted. 

“Yeah, they’re not even bothering to dart predators any more.” She could see the realization flooding Pierce’s eyes. “We gotta move fast. You said you were talking to a lynx and his team, are they still up to it?”

“Yes, we just have to meet up with them to discuss the details. We have a problem though…” Pierce began chewing on his claws. “Lucas called me last night, said he saw someone stalking outside our place. And we can’t have them here, not with SPEC crawling around.”

“So what you’re saying is, we need a new place to meet?” Judy felt her mind working quickly. “I think I know just the place…”

* * *

 

“Come on, Stu,” Bonnie rolled her eyes as she slid another rack of muffins into the oven. She stepped over to a second oven, already full, and began pulling muffins out. “We gotta be out there to meet them.”

“I know,” he grunted as he ran the carrots against the grater. Small orange flakes rained down inside, a couple getting trapped in his fur. “Don’t worry, we’ll be out there in time, as soon as Cotton hollers for us—”

“Uncle Stu! Aunt Bonnie, they’re coming!”

“Whoa!” Stu fumbled with the carrot for a moment. “Well, uh, guess that’s our cue. Molly, Peter, can you cover for us?”

The pair of them went outside and watched as a large pastel-yellow truck came rumbling into the yard. Besides the driver, a pig wearing a slim newsboy cap, someone else sat in the cab this time, and she waved excitedly. 

“Judy!” Stu and Bonnie opened their arms, and as soon as she hopped out of the vehicle she leapt to them. 

“Oh, I missed you guys so much!” She snuggled into their embrace. “I got so much to share with you.”

“Thanks Arthur,” Stu tipped his cap to the pig. “Oh, by the way, can you drive the truck over to the back this time?”

“Huh?” The pig looked confused for a second. 

“We’re doing some work in the front room, so I need my supplies delivered to the back instead of the front of the house.”

“Oh, sure thing Mr. Hopps!”

Bonnie watched as the pig turned over the engine and began to maneuver to the other side of the Hopps residence, a large grassy hill with windows sticking out in all directions. Her gaze briefly flitted to their fence. A long black car prowled along the fields, watching. Nervous about making too much eye contact, she turned back to watching the truck curve around their house, backing up against their rear porch.  Looking back, they were away from the street now.

“There we are. Want me to help unload?”

“Nah, that’s why we had kids,” Stu joked. “I actually wanted your help with something though, you good with power tools?”

“Of course Mr. Hopps!” The pair of them moved towards the barn, deep in conversation. Meanwhile, Bonnie helped Judy unlatch the back of the truck. 

“Everyone back here?”

“Ugh,” A grey wolf groaned as he slid out from behind a stack of boxes. He straightened his back. “I prefer the limo myself.”

“Oh how terrible,” A buffalo snarked as he tried to pry himself from a wooden crate; it was almost comically small, and Bonnie wondered at how his bulk had fit. “Next time, I’ll make sure to bring champagne when we’re sneaking in some place.”

“Come on guys,” A black wolf uncoiled himself from with a sack of lemons. “Let’s just get outta here.”

“Yes yes, let’s go,” Bonnie motioned, and they all disappeared into the house unseen. “I hope your journey wasn’t too bad?”

“Two hundred miles in a produce truck,” the black wolf twisted his torso around. “For what it was, not bad at all. Enjoyed the citrus smell.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry, I’m Pierce Canisson. Pleasure to meet you,” he extended his paw.

“Oh, Judy’s told me all about you.” She accepted it warmly. “And you must be his brother Lucas?” The grey wolf nodded and shook her paw too. “And Chief Bogo?”

“Now don’t tell me Hopps has been talking about me too?” He chuckled as he accepted her paw in his hooves.

As they all greeted and introduced each other, they walked into the living room. Lucas and Pierce were twice the rabbits’ heights, and Bogo at least three times, but she saw them raise their brows as they saw the structure’s scale. The house had three levels above ground, with a single walkway spiraling up to the top. High above the taller animals’ heads the roof arched, and a massive light fixture dangled far out of reach. The walls were soft pink with darker trimming along the floors. In the middle of the rotunda, several squashy couches and armchairs and beanbags sat in an ideal arrangement… or at least, an arrangement deemed acceptable for the next four to six months. Rabbits of all ages looked up as the visitors arrived, and they gasped in delight. 

“Well,” Lucas snickered, “I didn’t realize they’d be so happy to meet us. My name is —”

“JUDY!”

Despite their size difference, the three larger animals cringed as a sea of bunnies inundated them. Bonnie laughed as she tried to shepherd them from the crowd that swarmed Judy. “Family’s a big deal around here,” she explained. “Please, make yourself comfortable, and holler if the little ones cause you any trouble.” 

Bonnie gestured to a set of chairs. They had all been reinforced to hold larger guests, with everyone from neighbors to farm bureau agents accommodated.  That didn’t make it any less absurd to see Lucas and Pierce, in their formal jackets, sitting in plump baby blue armchairs that looked like they were designed for sixth-grade wolves. Nor did it make less absurd the sight of Chief Bogo perched upon a high-backed scarlet recliner, as if he were sitting at a kindergarten desk. Her guests seated, Bonnie went through a rounded doorway; no straight edges existed in the Hopps residence, it was a purely organic design. One right turn later, she ended up in the kitchen.

“Let me just take some of…” She grabbed a plate of muffins from the counter. Feeling them to make sure they were warm (they were), she began to head back. “Thanks, keep it up!” 

As she walked back to the living room, Bonnie saw the family still crowding around Judy. She also saw that the little ones weren’t who she needed to warn the visitors about. 

“I said, gerroff my chair!” An elderly rabbit with one droopy ear and a hunched over spine was whacking his cane feebly against Lucas’ pants leg. Pierce had already stood up, trying to reason with him.

“But sir, you said this was your chair.”

“They’re both my chairs! And I won’t have no stinkin’ wolves on my chair!”  Lucas meanwhile just looked at him helplessly, unsure what to do.

“Alright, Pop-Pop,” Bonnie intervened. “That’s enough, go back upstairs.”

“But they’re’n mah chair, Bon! Lemme at ‘em, I’ll show ‘em not to mess with a Hopps!”

“I thought your chair was the one Bogo’s sitting in?” Bogo raised his hooves, insisting he not be brought into the dispute.

“Gah!” Pop-Pop began to totter up the ramp. “Stinkin’ wolves, with their sharp teeth, don’t trust the looks of that grey one, eyes too far apart…” His mumbling died away as he climbed. 

“Sorry about Pop-Pop, he’s a bit… behind the times. But you know what it’s like with family.”

“We understand,” Lucas smirked. “And thank you for your hospitality.” Bonnie handed him a carrot muffin, and he accepted. “They smell delightful.”

“HEY! MOM BROUGHT MUFFINS!”

Judy’s crowd began to swarm around Bonnie. Quickly she raised her voice:

“Now now, calm down everyone!” They all went silent as she spoke. “We have visitors, and they get served first, understand? Now all of you, up to your rooms, and you’ll get a muffin when they’re done. Do I make myself clear?”

With a widespread grumble, they all began to flood upstairs.  Stu came running up behind them. He panted for breath. “Just got back… I heard the muffins… are done?”

“Visitors first,” she sternly reminded him. “Pierce, here you go.”

As he accepted it, Stu looked up at him. Then he did a double take. “Oh cripes, what happened to your eye? Did Pop-Pop find you?”

“Stu!” Bonnie elbowed him. “Don’t be rude!”

But Pierce laughed. “No no, I did meet Pop-Pop, but he didn’t give me a scar. It’s kind of a personal story though, don’t like to talk about it too much.”

“Well don’t worry,” Bonnie nodded. “We know when to mind our own business.” She gave a hard glance at Stu. “And speaking of which, we’ll give you four some privacy to talk if you’d like.” After Bogo accepted his muffin, she gave one to Judy and set the plate on the table. “And I hope nobody’s listening in,” she raised her voice, “because they’re not getting any muffins!” There were some groans and the slams of doors. “That includes you, Pop-Pop!” 

An angry “Gah!” answered, along with one last door slam. 

“There we go. Hope it goes well, and let us know when the rest of the team arrives.” With that she led Stu through the last door, leaving the four alone to their devices. 


	15. Planning

_ Sorry for a short chapter, it’s been a stressful time! _

* * *

 

Gideon sat in the driver’s seat of his pie van. The dirt roads of Bunnyburrow crackled under the tire treads, and he felt the uneven terrain make his vehicle lightly sway. Of course he’d grown up used to it, but he was not used to having a passenger beside him, or in the back for that matter.

“These pies are great!” A canine face popped through a window to the cab. He had one grey and one blue eye, a creamy-white muzzle and paws, and black fur otherwise. A stripe of tan separated the cream from the black. In his paws, he held a pumpkin pie, with fingermarks gouged into its surface.

Gideon chuckled a bit. “Well I’m glad you’re enjoyin’ ‘em. Don’t eat too many though.”

“Arin, behave back there,” the lynx beside Gideon turned in her seat. “He only said to have one.”

“Aw he’s fine, Roxie.” The fox turned his eyes back to the road, scanning the left edge for the mailbox. “There we are,” he announced as he pulled into the Hopps’ driveway. As Gideon rounded the mound, he saw Stu waving him down. He rolled down the window. “Mr. Hopps!  Are the others here?”

“They’re just talking inside, Gid,” the rabbit jabbed his thumb inside. “Let’s get everything unloaded.”

“One lynx and one border collie, right ‘ere.”

“Oh yeah, that’s great.” Stu glanced around, and whispered behind his handpaw, “But the pies are here too, right?”

“You’re gonna wanna talk to Arin about that.” Gideon rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Anythin’ else I can do for y’all?”

“You’ve done plenty, thank you.” The rabbit nodded as Roxie exited the passenger door, and Arin clambered out the back with three pies stacked atop each other. “Oh, I thought we only purchased two pies this week?”

“Your guests got a little hungry on the road.” With a wink, the fox began to drive back the way he came.  He watched Roxie mouth a sincere thank you, while Arin balanced the pies on one hand to free his other one for a salute. 

As Gideon pulled back onto the crackling dirt road, he passed by the low black car that constantly patrolled here. It must have had doppelgangers, there was no way a single vehicle could lurk out here so much. He’d long given up trying to see the driver; the glass was too tinted, at least from his side, to see anything. The fox raised a handpaw in polite greeting as he rumbled past.

There was a flash from the cab.

Gideon’s head whirled to see, but the car was already passing by. It rattled in his mind as his van bumbled along. He had seen a light flash… right? Out of the corner of his eye? Had it just been a trick? He shivered, making his shoulders tremble, but kept driving.

* * *

 

“Arin Michaelis. Roxie Garner.” Pierce stood up and shook their handpaws as they were shown into the living room-turned-strategy room. “Thank you for meeting with us.”

“Mr. Canisson,” Arin and Roxie both greeted him.

“Please, I’m Pierce. This is my brother Lucas, and you know Judy Hopps?”

“Pleasure to meet you.” She stood to receive a handshake from both of them.

“Delighted to be working with you,” Roxie agreed. “It’s rare that I actually work with law enforcement.”

Judy suppressed a shiver, keeping a smile for the lynx as she moved on to Chief Bogo. As she moved to shake Arin’s handpaw, she spent a second studying his face. He appeared wolf-like, but something about him was unlike any species she’d seen before.

“Let me guess, never heard of a border collie?”

The rabbit felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.”

“It’s alright, I’m used to it.” He flopped down onto a chair, thankfully one that had been reinforced for larger inhabitants. As if reciting from a script, Arin looked across at Judy. “Do you remember high school world history? Sowviet Union, that whole mess?”

Judy nodded and sat down.

“You hear about eugenics?”

She felt a pit grow in her stomach as she began to realize where his story was going to go. “Oh god…”

The collie nodded slowly. “If they were going to allow predators to live in their society, they couldn’t have any wild and dangerous creatures. My grandfather was the last to be born under their breeding regime. As you can see though,” he flicked at one of his ears, “I’m still feeling the effects all these years later.  My family had their dignity stolen from them by one animal who got too big for his hooves.  If there’s anything I can do to keep others from suffering anything like this, I will do it.”

Judy nodded in admiration. “Why are you here, Roxie?”

“It’s a paying job and I need to eat.” She crossed her arms and legs. “Dante’s got a job in Hog Kong  this month, which means he’s gonna blow  _ all _ his cash in Hog Kong, and we gotta put food on the table somehow. So, what’s the plan?”

Judy clapped her hands together. “Glad you asked!” Bogo handed her a piece of paper that she spread upon the table in front of them: a blueprint to the Zootech facility. Then she pulled a photograph out of her pocket.  It showed a white rabbit, dressed in a blue blazer. “It all starts with her: Lainey Pines, a lab technician working for SPEC.  She has the night shift, and her ID card has the authority to unlock the predators’ cages. In short, she’s our key into the heart of SPEC’s operation.”

“Understood, understood,” Roxie nodded. “Question: is she actually going to help us?”

“ _ She  _ isn’t. But  _ I  _ am. Using my natural ability to be shaped like a rabbit, I’m going to disguise myself as Lainey and get inside. That’s where I’m going to need your guys’ help,” she pointed at the two guns-for-hire. “We need to kidnap her and get everything we need for me to pass as her. Can you do that?”

“Mhm,” Arin listened intently. “Sounds good, go on.”

“So, I would be here.” She took a little bottle cap with a “J” on it and set it inside the facility. “That’s step one.”

“Obviously,” quipped Roxie.

“Next, we need to secure the elevators. The SPEC holding cells are on the top floor, and the stairs aren’t an option; we’re going to be carrying ten mammals out of there. I took a picture of the control box for the elevator, and I’m betting we can find a manual online. Who’d be better with that?”

“I’ve had some experience with hardware and coding,” Arin raised his handpaw. “I’ll do it.”

“Great! I took a picture of the control box, the model number, all of that.  That means Roxie and Lucas, you’ll need to come up with me to get the predators.”

“We’re going to give them a tranquilizer,” Lucas explained to the two newcomers. “Should knock them out, they won’t move a muscle. After that we strap them into stretchers and get them downstairs into the van.”

“Which I will be driving,” Pierce raised his handpaw with a small smile. 

“Sounds easy enough.” The lynx sniffed and thumbed her nose. “Now, what’s the big catch?”

“Security’s going to be everywhere.” Judy brought up more bottlecaps, each marked with their initials, and as she spoke to each of them she placed the caps in their respective locations. “Arin, the control panel is in the maintenance room here, past the front desk. We’ll need to use a distraction to clear the way for you. Pierce, your main concern is making sure you don’t get caught or trapped. If you’re stuck, we’re all stuck.  Our biggest problem is on the top floor.”

“Don’t worry,” Roxie got an excited sparkle in her eye. “I got this covered. You stay out of the line of fire, and as soon as we come off the elevator, the frags go out, and I pull out my pistols—”

“Nununununo, no!” Judy waved her paws frantically. “We’re not trying to kill anyone! I’m going to put on a radio jammer, and take them out myself. We’ll each have firearms if we need them, but we don’t want to kill anyone here.”

“Thank you, Hopps.” Bogo cast a side-eye at the lynx, who folded her arms in disappointment.

“If everything goes well, we can be in and out of there without a problem.”

Arin raised his hand. “What about security cameras? Anything we need to disable?”

Bogo answered, “Believe it or not, SPEC has disabled all the cameras in their section of the hospital. Apparently they’re afraid of getting their activities on tape…”

The collie nodded. “By the way, you’ve barely said a word this whole time. What do you have to do with all of this?”

“I’m not taking part, no. I just want to know what’s going to be happening in my jurisdiction, and where to turn blind eyes. Plus I have certain business to attend to.” He pulled out his cellphone and glanced at it. “Hopps, when is our ride coming?”

Bonnie answered for them as she popped her head in. “Grocer’s coming in ten minutes! Be ready!”

Judy gave a thumbs up. “Alright, well, any other questions to clear up?” Silence. “Okay, Arin, get on those elevator manuals, I hope everyone has a safe trip home. Dad, any more muffins for the ride back?”

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later, Stu and Arthur came out of the barn, wiping grease off their hands. “Thanks for your help,” the rabbit shook the pig’s hooved hand. “Really owe ya for the drill bits.” 

Arthur tipped his hat cordially. “No trouble, Mr. Hopps. Always happy to help a loyal customer.”

“Aw, you’re too kind. You should stop by for dinner sometime, the missus and I would love to have you!”

“Will do!” With a big grin Arthur climbed back into his cab, with Judy waiting in the passenger seat. “Welp, back to the city!”

He sputtered off, unaware of five large mammals in the back.


	16. Lines

A few days passed by. Judy woke up to a dark sky and a chiming phone alarm. She showered. She dried. She opened her closet.

After donning her underarmor, instead of her blue ZPD uniform, she pulled out a red vest. On the back were white letters: SPEC. The rabbit closed her eyes, unable to watch as she slipped it on. _ Just remember your mission _ , she told herself.  _ Remember why you’re doing this. _

A train ride later, she ended up in Glacier Falls. Snowflakes floated and twirled their way down, mere white specks that alighted upon her nose with a refreshing nip. Sunlight glinted off them like crystal. The sun lofted itself above the tops of the apartments and offices.  They hung tired yet sleepless, with dark windows as bagged eyes blearily facing the dawn. Judy padded past, her breath clouding the air as she walked along the barricade. SPEC officers patrolled outside with rifles slung over their shoulders. They kept their eyes firm on the opposite side of the street, scanning for any sign of predators. Some beavers were busy marking the ground along the barricades with red paint. As the rabbit finally came to a makeshift tent, she recognized the pony meeting her: the same one who had nearly assaulted the cougar during the relocation. Judy finally read the name on his pocket, Officer Hagins...

“Good morning, bunny.”

“That’s Officer Hopps, thank you.” She sighed and tried to gather her inner strength one more time. “I’m guessing you have the orders from Clive Hoofer?”

“Right. Now, the rules for passage are simple. Every predator will have their ID card and some kind of permit. No weapons are allowed, no amounts of cash over twenty dollars, no flammable substances, and no tobacco products or substitutes. They must be searched upon re-entry. If at any time you feel suspicious you can confiscate anything on their person or detain them at will. Understand?”

Judy nodded. “Sounds good, I’ll just open up the booth here, and you can go back to your patrol.”

“Actually, I’ve been assigned to help you for the first four hours.” The pony clasped his hooves in front of his body. “Help keep things running smoothly and everything.”

Judy cursed in her mind. Of course she was going to be supervised; that’s why Hoofer had her under his thumb in the first place. Her mind beginning to spin a plan of action, she took her place behind the fold-out table that was her workstation. Hagins stood across from her, now standing at parade rest with his hooves behind his back, elbows pointed to the side, and eyes staring straight ahead. A line of predators were beginning to form at the tent. Judy glanced over at the first mammal in line. “Come on up.”

A golden jackal stepped up first, wrapped in a black polyester jacket which covered a red sweatshirt. His snout and paws barely stuck out as he thrust his ID and permit at Judy. She accepted both and checked them out. “Farran El-Mofty?”

The jackal nodded, rubbing his paws together and holding them up to his muzzle for warmth.

“You’re working at the Siberian Sweet Bakery… pictures match up, you’re all good.” With a small smile she handed the materials back. Farran nodded, accepted them , and stuffed his paws into his pockets. The next mammal got ready to come forward, but the pony put out his hoof to halt them. He glared at Judy.

“Why didn’t you interrogate him?”

She blinked in surprise. “Because I didn’t know I was  _ supposed _ to interrogate him? And because nothing seemed off?”

“Our orders are to cross-examine them.”

“Well,  _ maybe _ you should have told me that.”

“I’m pretty sure I did tell you.”

“Alright, alright,” the rabbit put out her paws and took a deep breath; she had to keep herself from snapping in frustration. “This is not important right now. The line’s already getting backed up,” she gestured to the growing number of predators queuing, “so let’s just get through it, okay?”

With a huff, the pony stepped back in place. Judy did everything she could to keep her eyes from rolling. What was she even supposed to interrogate people over anyways? She turned to face the next predator coming up, and: “Ralph!”

The raccoon architect stood before her, handing his card over without greeting. At Judy’s recognition he nodded. “Pleasure to see you again too, Officer. Things been going well for you, I hope?”

“As well as they can be.” She glanced over his ID and stood with her other paw out. An awkward silence ensued. She looked up from his card. Ralph’s eyes furrowed in confusion. “Your permit?”

“They never gave me a permit. I’m just heading to my new job.”

Judy closed her eyes and bit her lips. Her eyes darted to Hagins for a split second and then back. “Mr. Coor, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you through without a permit.”

He stared at her, mouth agape. “You’re kidding me?” Her silence answered him. “Look, it’s literally right across the street. Right there,” he pointed at a trinkets boutique a few doors down on the prey side. “I’m the new custodian there, you can go and ask them yourself if you want. My first shift is in a few minutes, I can’t miss it!”

“You don’t have a permit,” the pony drawled, prompting Ralph to turn around, “so quit clogging up the line.” He jabbed his thumb back inside.

“It’s literally right there! You don’t understand, I need this job, I’m taking care of my father and he can’t stand the cold, and the gas bill’s so high —”

Before Judy could respond, Hagins interrupted: “If it’s so important, get a permit next time. Just go find another job!” He picked up the raccoon with one hoof and set him back outside the tent, shoving him away. 

“Wait! My ID!” The raccoon tried to get back towards Judy, but the SPEC pony threw out his arm and gave a hard glare. Ralph looked from him to Judy. His face hardened, and he spat on the ground before wheeling around and walking away.

“Give him his ID,” Judy insisted. She held the card, but the pony snatched it away.

“He can get a new one easily.” With that he stowed the card in his pocket. “And you, don’t be getting chummy. You’re on duty.” He looked to the side. “We’ve lost enough time, call the next predator in line.”

Judy fumed, but gestured for the next predator. A lioness seeking medical treatment at a nearby clinic. Judy let her through; she glared at the pony, daring him to say something about interrogating them. He had enough sense to keep quiet. She moved on. A ferret with a job as a window cleaner. Check. Pass. Move on. A badger looking to get some plumbing materials. Check. Pass. Move on. A coyote working a nearby fast-food restaurant… then she recognized the name.

She looked up at Travis. The coyote couldn’t even meet her eye; the moment she glanced up at him, he shifted his gaze to the ground. He had his handpaws clasped, one thumb stroking the other. When Judy finally handed the materials back, he whispered “Have a good day” before leaving.  Hagins watched their interaction and seemed satisfied. Next up was a black bear heading to the assembly lines. Judy was about to let him through… 

But got distracted by the panther just behind him. The feline was searching in her purse, eyes frantic. The rabbit thought quickly.

“Hey,” she motioned to the pony. “Give this guy a once-over, will you?”

“Really? Seriously?” The ursine held out his paws in offense, but the SPEC officer grabbed up at his arm and pulled him to the side. As Hagins began patting down the bear, the panther came forward.

“Officer,” she began without breath, “I’m so sorry, but I can’t…”

“Go,” Judy mouthed. She waved for her to pass. 

The panther paused for a moment. “Thank you,” she whispered. With quick steps she padded away. 

Predator after predator. Name after name. Mammals trickling out of Glacier Falls like ants from an anthill, searching for anything to bring back to their borders.  The sun dragged across the sky…

* * *

 

“I don’t know Clive,” Bellwether sat at her desk, her back to the nighttime city, her face pointed down at the document sitting before her. Short and sweet, a rarity for legal documents. “The relocation was one thing. But this could lead to a huge riot, not to mention the cost of it all. I don’t know if we have the resources to deal with that unrest.”

The goat leaned over her shoulder, his lips inches from her long ears. “Dawn, you don’t have to worry about this. You don’t need any council approval, do you? All you need is to sign this executive order and I can do my job so much more easily.  Maybe a few more mammals and guns couldn’t hurt though, if you’re willing to secure me the funding.  Apparently we’re still rounding up a few predators on the loose...”

“The budget’s already tight though.” She chewed on her pen, a nice wooden one that had her name engraved in brass. “Think I can get City Council to shave some education funding for law enforcement?”

“Emergency powers,” Hoofer answered. “We need to get these predators in line. Now.”

“I know, I know…” Bellwether took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, groaning. 

“Something’s bothering you.”

“My meeting with the Bunnyburrow borough president didn’t go too well today. She’s not cooperating with anything, no matter what I tell her!”

Hoofer assumed a comforting tone as he walked around the desk. “Well, as mayor, you’re in charge of this city-state, aren’t you?”

“Yeah… yeah, that’s right.” Bellwether began to feel a bubble of pride bud inside her.

“You’re top of the heap. Star of the show. A true leader.”

“Yeah, that’s right!” 

“Then for God’s sake, act like it.” The bubble of pride burst with Hoofer’s snide comment. Instead, Bellwether felt her pulse in her chest; her arms and legs went numb as they trembled in anger. 

“Hey, you don’t have any right to be talking down to me like that!” The sheep stood up in her seat, hooves pressing down on the fabric, and looked the goat in the eye. “You’re in an appointed position; I don’t have to keep you around, I can replace you just like that!” She snapped her hoof at him. 

Hoofer watched her without comment, smile, or frown. Once she finished he closed his eyes. “You can. But you won’t.” He opened them again and stared her down, with rectangular pupils against golden irises. “You would not be behind this desk if it wasn’t for me. If I hadn’t come along, you’d just be a mindless sheep, following the herd, accomplishing absolutely nothing. Oh, I’m sorry, I overreached myself. You may still have become ‘assistant mayor’.”

He gave a smirk, which drove Bellwether mad. She clenched her hooves and glared into his amused face. “Don’t try your games with me. Who came up with the Night Howler idea in the first place, hm? When it comes down to it,  _ I’m  _ the one in the mayor’s seat, and I can have a long happy term without you, thank you very much!” She didn’t succeed in wiping that smile off his face, but it certainly weakened. Bellwether was willing to accept that victory. 

Hoofer glanced aside for a moment. “When you’re done, please act like a proper public figure and sign the order. I promise I’ll take care of the rest.” He slowly stepped out of the office, shutting the door behind him. 

Bellwether took in a deep breath. Leaned against the back of the chair. With a sigh, she let herself slide down limp into her seat again. Her mind throbbed with raw emotions. No. No, she couldn’t make any decisions like this. With brisk and angry motions she slapped stationery onto the desk. Readied her pen. Thought of a recipient. Hoofer? Lionheart? She thought for a moment, then set point to paper and began:

“Dear Father,

“It’s been a long time. Hope you’ve been keeping busy with your apartment building; God knows it’s all you’ve ever talked about. Still running around, bending over backwards so some B-list artist won’t move out?” Bellwether didn’t stem the bitterness as it flowed from her pen. “I’ll just skip the sentimentality and get directly to the part you care about:

“Turns out that I’ve accomplished a lot with my life! I’m now the mayor of Zootopia; it’s still not the route you wanted for me, but I’d say there’s more than enough prestige in the title to make it worth having. It beats sweating over a lab station or law books, I can tell you that for sure.”

Black ink trailed and looped. At the same time, Judy shuffled her way up the stairs of her apartment. A white rabbit named Lainey Pines walked by Nick Wilde’s cell and watched his face. Vinny the armadillo stared out the screen of his bedroom window at the skyline of Zootopia. Clive Hoofer hailed his driver and got into the back of a small limousine, and named his stop.

“I told you I could go far with public affairs. You didn’t believe me, and you were wrong. I’m working with a team of people that are doing great things. My approval ratings are the highest of any mayor in Zootopia’s history! Not bad for a ‘soft-hearted lamb’, is it?”

The sentences sounded broken and choppy but she didn’t care. Judy creaked her door open and looked around, spying her ZPD uniform in the closet. She looked at the SPEC vest on her body. With a disgusted growl she peeled it off and threw it across the room onto her bed. It landed on her plushies, obscuring the little stuffed fox with a sticker badge. Lainey Pines walked past cell after cell, the door ahead of her opening. Her replacement coming in, time to head home. Vinny looked at the sparkling skyscrapers, glistening with wealth, when he heard a crash down the alleyway. The young armadillo tried to turn to see it better. Hoofer said not a word to his driver as he rode to the SPEC outpost. 

“You always told me, ‘Don’t be too sensitive’. But you don’t know how it feels to hold a master’s degree and see your father give you nothing but a disappointed look. Well I’m done having you judge me. You’re not going to have a trophy daughter to show off to your tenants. You’re not going to have anything to feed your ego. At least, not from me, because I have my own concerns to worry about, and I don’t have to impress  you !”

She felt the bite of untruth. Glistening ebony ribbons flowing and spiking, stopping and starting. Judy sitting at her desk, burying her head in her paws, staring at the plush fox she set before herself. Lainey Pines riding the elevator to the first floor, her eyelids crying for sleep. A round beaver struggling against two jackals, dragging him along the alleyway. Vinny gasping at the sight, clamping his hoof over his mouth. Hoofer scanning the streets, seeing not a predator in sight and nodding in satisfaction.

“You build yourself up to be this homely mammal, a proud single parent who loves his daughter and his tenants. But I know the truth: you’re selfish and you can never find satisfaction. Well guess what? Who gets television time whenever she wants it? Who’s calling the big shots in Zootopia? Who is going to go down as the best mayor in the city’s history?  I am!”

A strong stroke with gritted teeth to emphasize the “I”. A burning mixture of revulsion and defiance rising in Judy, making her count the days to the lamb’s downfall. Lainey Pines pulling a cigarette from her pocket and sticking it in her mouth, and a canine lurking in the shadows as she walked. A cry of fear from the beaver. A backpawed slap from a jackal, and a spraycan forced into his paw. A wince from Vinny, and yet fascination like a television drama. Hoofer watching SPEC headquarters draw closer.

“And I’m making this promise to you right now: I will stay in this office until the day I die. I will prove to you that this lamb has strength and resolve, and nothing you’ve said will ever discourage me. So you’ve failed. You don’t get what you want.  I get what I want. And if you’re unsatisfied, then so be it.

“Sincerely,

“Dawn”

The ballpoint lingered on the final “n”, letting ink bleed into a puddle. Judy looked out at the skyline of Zootopia, seeing its vibrant heart poisoned and stifled. She climbed into bed and closed her eyes, dreaming of seeing Nick freed once again. Stifled, just as Lainey’s scream when Arin leapt from the shadows and grabbed her right in the security cameras’ blind spot. The skyline of Zootopia, which crowned the desperate scene that Vinny watched. The beaver pled with his captors; he’d been good to predators, he’d never do anything against them, he had no quarrel. A pair of cruel snickers came from the jackals as they ordered him to paint. Vinny could barely make out in the faint streetlights: GOLDEN CLAW, and a crude picture of a snarling beast. Then the jackals grabbed the beaver by the throat. The young armadillo fled across his room and dived under his covers, shutting his eyes to hide the beaver’s screams.

Bellwether looked over her angry letter. Her handwriting remained shaky throughout, and her words sounded jumbled and messy, but inside she felt… a little calmer. Her thoughts felt more coherent and stable now. She glanced over the letter once again. Then she folded it and tore it in half. Then again. Then again. The remains were dumped into a recycle bin beside her desk. Finally the sheep looked over the order sitting on her desk. The blank line begged for her signature.

Clive Hoofer finally arrived at his destination. Entering in, he was escorted to the development lab where they had finished the newest piece of predator control technology. Feeling a sense of delight he picked it up, where it perched on its corners between his hooves. He dreamt of seeing them in every single predator in the city. The shimmering green and gold lines winked at him. If only Bellwether would allow it…

In her office, the sheep took a final scan of the order. Then she signed off. 


	17. Slipping In

Judy knocked on the door of an old stone hovel that teetered on condemnation. All around were the grassy hills of the Meadowlands, with the glow of city lights above the southern horizon. When the door opened, she found Roxie the lynx leaning in the doorway. “A little cold even for snow hares, isn’t it?”

“Hmm,” Judy narrowed her eyes playfully. “How’d it go catching Lainey?”

“Feisty little thing. Almost made me break a sweat.” The lynx flicked her ears as she moved aside to let Judy enter.  “Hold on a sec. Arin!” She pounded on a wall in the main room, “Get the earplugs in!” 

A female voice floated up from below. “What are you doing?! Get those away from my ears, you mutt! Ack! So help me, if you end up in the lab I’m gonna taze you so hard, you won’t be able to feel your—”

“Whew!” Arin cut her off as he flung open the door, a stack of papers under his arm. “Boy is she a chatterbox.  Did you get a good night’s sleep Judy?”

“Yeah, it was tough though. I’ve been excited and nervous. What about you guys?”

“Arin had a nap, I need one.” Roxie stretched her paws towards the ceiling. “So if you don’t mind, I’m gonna crash on the couch for a few hours before we go.” With that, she went into the other room. Judy heard the sound of fur hitting a soft pad, along with the creaking of old springs.

“I sure hope she doesn’t get the same crick in her neck that I did.” Arin tilted his head to the side in discomfort. “You remember the plan, right?”

Judy nodded. “I go in, get everything ready, then signal you guys when the coast is clear.”

Arin smiled. “Exactly. I’m ready with my part.” He held up the stacks of paper. “The picture you got me was a MammaLift brand—HL3200 model. Found the basics on Zoogle and went from there.”

“Good! Now, to get ready for my performance.” Judy looked around, and spotted a tube of fur dye on the counter. “Did you get her clothes ready for me to put on?”

Arin blinked at this, and blushed. “I, uh… I was gonna wait for Roxie to do that? I mean, I’ll kindnap the rabbit, but I won’t undress her.”

“Ugh, it’s not like you’re… never mind.” Judy rolled her eyes. “Can you get her to do or say something?” At Arin’s quizzical look, she explained, “Just go in there and talk to her, so I can listen.  I’m gonna need to get her personality down if I’m going to  _ be  _ her for a night.”

“Ah, no problem! But I’m gonna take out her earplugs, so be quiet. Last thing we need is for her to hear your voice and go blabbing.” He went downstairs to the cellar again. Judy listened as the same female voice greeted him.

“Well well, my gracious host shows his face again.”

“Nice to see you again too, Miss Pines.”

“Listen, I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I can tell you right now that I have exactly one family member alive, and she doesn’t have a lot of money. If you let me go, we can negotiate a price that I can pay.”

“We don’t want your money. And you’re not going anywhere until we say so.” 

“Revenge then? Trafficking?” A hint of fear tinged her voice. “I can cut you a deal, I need to stay here though. Please, I have people depending on me.”

“Whatever happened to Miss No-Family?”

“I have my aunt, and I gotta help her. Since the city announced a tax hike, she can’t make ends meet. She’s relying on me. Please, show some mammality.”

Arin scoffed; Judy could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “Says the bunny who called me a mutt not five minutes ago.”

“Says the canine that has me tied up against my will!” 

Judy listened to the exchange carefully, gauging out Lainey’s personality. Then she grabbed the tube of white dye and took it into the bathroom. She squeezed a bit onto her fingertips before she swirled it around. Looking in the mirror, Judy worked it into her fur. Bit by bit her grey was masked beneath a snowy white.  Then she pulled a case out of her pocket.  Snapping it open, she pulled out a contact from inside and slid it under her eyelid. Blinking it into place, she glanced at her reflection. Judy now had one of her natural purple eyes, while the other was sapphire. Soon the other eye was hidden. She took the two items in her paws, then faced the mirror. 

‘That’ll work’, she thought to herself.

Several hours later, Judy was looking in the mirror again. This time though, she had a blue blazer on, and a wallet in her hand: Lainey’s wallet. Lucas looked over her shoulder, his white lab coat on. “A dead ringer, I’d say.”

“Eh, my neck’s a little longer.” Judy fiddled with the collar of the blazer. “Plus my ears are a little skinnier, and my cheeks are rounder…” She pawed at her face. “If I wear a hat and scarf, I’ll be okay.”

“In Sahara Square?”

“I’ll take being hot and sweaty over being discovered. Got anything for me?”  Lucas scratched his head in thought.  “I’ll get something on the way over.”

“Alright. Arin’s getting his stuff together, Roxie’s giving Lainey some sleeping pills to knock her out, and Pierce is waiting in the van. We all have our arms. You?”

Judy felt at the blazer’s pockets. One of them carried a tranquilizer, her primary weapon. The other carried a normal handgun, in case things got out of control. “I’m ready when you are.”

“You sure?”

“As much as I’ll ever be.” 

The grey wolf nodded. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

The group of four left the house, finding Pierce behind the wheel of a dingy white van. They stopped at the northern edge of the Rainforest District where Judy dashed into a small pharmacy to grab a wide-brimmed sun hat and a scarf. She forked over a ten dollar bill before returning. “Doesn’t hurt to be cautious,” the rabbit said as she began winding the scarf around her neck. 

The van hummed through Savannah Central before hitting the blistering heat of Sahara Square.  Pierce pulled out his phone, hit a number, and put it on speaker. “Bogo?”

“Yeah?” His deep voice came through.

“We’re ready.”

“Got it.” They heard the crackle of static. “All units, we’ve had an anonymous tip of a riot tonight in the Canal District. Relay to your SPEC counterparts at once. Units S-110, S-120…”

Pierce hung up. “Let’s hope this works…”

Within ten minutes, they pulled up in front of the hospital just in time to see two SPEC vehicles drifting down the road and around the corner. Arin pulled out a pair of walkie-talkies and tossed one to Judy.

“Okay,” Judy took a deep breath, in and out. “Wait for my signal.”

Arin gave a little two-fingered salute. Judy opened the door of the van. Her paws touched the cement. A few seconds later, the van was driving away and she was left before ZooTech Medical Center. She swallowed her fear and walked forward.

_ You’re supposed to be here. This is your job. You’re supposed to be here. This is your job. _

The door slid open, and a pig at the front desk looked up. “Miss Pines, how’s your evening?”

Judy coughed, and rasped her voice. “Bit rough. Woke up coughing this morning and it’s only gotten worse.”

“Oh dear. Want some cough drops?”

“Know what, I’d appreciate that.” Judy accepted a handful of cough drops and popped one in her mouth. Immediately she grimaced. Honey-lemon… she hated that flavor.  She sucked it up though; anything to make her story more convincing.  That said, Judy still pushed it against her cheek in disgust as she approached the elevator. She adjusted the hat on her ears. Tightened the scarf. Rode up to the tenth floor. The doors opened.

“Miss Pines?” The capybara guard narrowed her eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Well enough to work,” Judy took a deep breath and coughed, gripping her cough drop between her teeth. “Here, need my ID?” She pulled out the wallet and showed the card. “Need me to take off my hat?”

“Nah, you’re fine.” Judy suppressed a sigh of relief as the capybara pointed behind herself. “Check in with Dr. G, he’s looking for you. And be careful,” she scoffed, “you’ll get another virus from these animals.”

Judy faked a laugh and turned it into a cough to cover up the lie. As she stepped away, she felt the eyes of the capybara turn and stare. Her mind raced. She must have done something wrong with the laugh. Gotta adjust…

“Lainey!” A giraffe called out to her, and from his proud body language Judy guessed he was the head. “Get your coat on, we have work to do!”

Judy nodded, grabbing a white lab coat and putting it on around her shoulders. 

“Your hat and scarf?”

“Not feeling well,” she explained. “Got chills.”

“And you still came to work? In a hospital?”

“Bills are tight.” Judy’s memory sparked. “My aunt’s having a—”

“Hard time, you told me last week, save it for your down time. Or at home, that’d be even better. We’re here —  _ you’re  _ here to do a job. So get doing it.” 

With a brisk wave, he motioned for her to follow. Judy wasn’t quite sure of his name, but she had an idea. With as generic of a questioning tone as she could muster, she asked, “Dr. G?”

“Yeah?” He didn’t look back or break stride.

Got it. “What are we doing tonight, then?”

Now he did look back. “I sent you an email earlier today.”

“Didn’t see it. I was preoccupied with being sick?”

“Not a good habit to fall into, Lainey. Don’t let it happen again.” The giraffe opened a door to the left, and Judy could see another long hall of predators. A black sheep in a white lab coat was taking notes. “Ariel!” 

“Oh!” The sheep looked up in alarm, then came clopping along with her hooves. “Dr. G, sir?”

“Lainey didn’t get the memo. I don’t have time to explain it, so I’m delegating to you.”

“Oh, of course, sir!” She chuckled nervously as Judy stepped into the room. “Oh, and please don’t slam the—” A loud crash sounded as Dr. G shut the door, and loud snarls flared up at the provocation. The sheep sighed before looking at Judy. “Gosh, you sick?” When Judy nodded, she did the same. “Yeah, been thinking about taking a sick day too.”

“Not feelin’ well?”

“Just can’t stand this environment, it’s driving me nuts.” She peered in through the glass at a lynx. “He’s doing alright, no sign of infection.” Ariel jotted it down and moved on. 

“Infection?”

“Yeah, from the implants.”

Judy felt her stomach flip. She fought back the urge to blurt out ‘Implants?’, which would have surely blown her cover. “Oh, of course.  Sorry, head cold has me kind of fuzzy today.”

“So far everything is looking good.” She gave a snort. “As if Clive really cares.”

Judy picked up on this and fashioned a probing question. “Did you hear that Clive is planning on expanding the budget for the facility?”

“Hm, and let me guess, it’s all...” She suddenly looked at the SPEC guard standing behind Judy. Something seemed to spook her, and she lowered her voice. “Don’t expect to see a penny of it.” Ariel seemed cowed until they reached the next cell. “Gives me the willies,” she muttered with a shiver. 

As the sheep jotted down more notes, Judy desperately tried to figure out some question to figure out what the implants were while also not blowing her cover. Ariel approached the next cell. “Here, where’s your noteboard?”

Judy drew a breath. She pulled the walkie-talkie out of her blazer and hit the button. “Ready to go.”

“...what the—”

In the time it took for the sheep to utter those two words, Judy dropped the walkie-talkie. She reached into her blazer. Hit the button on the radio jammer. Cell phones across the hospital went blank. She grabbed her tranquilizer. 

The rabbit aimed for the SPEC officer at the end of the hall and fired two darts at him. The first whizzed past his neck. The other hit him right in the jugular. With a snarl he yanked it out and began to dash for the door. “HEY! Hey, hhhh-help…” He collapsed, unconscious. By that time Judy had slid around behind Ariel. Her arm lashed around her throat.

“Hey! Lainey, are you insane?!”

In that timeframe Judy had downed another SPEC officer. She squeezed one eye shut and hit the next mammal in a single shot. Finally, the guy at the end, who stood frozen. Judy’s shot hit him in the arm, and he collapsed too. All that were left in the hall were herself, Ariel, and the predators behind her. The sheep twisted around and looked up.

“...you’re not Lainey, are you?”


	18. Breaking and Entering

The telephone rang at the front desk, and the pig receptionist answered it. “Hello?”

“Is this the ZooTech Medical Center?” It was a male voice.

“Yes?”

“Can you let me know if the gift shop is still open? I left something in there today.”

“Oh, they’re not open right now, I’m sorry. I can look through the window and let you know if I see anything though.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that.”

As the pig got up from her chair, she walked down the main hall and turned to the left. “What exactly did you lose?”

She never heard the answer. A paw clamped an odorous rag over her snout, another grabbed the phone and tossed it away, and a leg kicked out her hooves from under her. Arin dragged his squirming catch to a nearby custodial closet. Her fighting grew weaker and weaker until finally, she went limp. He slumped her inside and grabbed a broom before pulling the door shut. “Stay?” The canine passed the broom through the handles. It sat lopsided, but held. “Stay. Alright, come on.”

At his signal, Roxie and Lucas came in through the main door. Roxie wore her overcoat and jeans, with a dagger at her waist. Lucas pulled along two empty stretchers. He had his entire face hidden, along with gloves and socks on his paws. No part of his pelt showed.

“Get on the elevator,” Arin pointed. “I’m gonna get this thing hotwired.”

“Would prefer you figure things out  _ before  _ we get on the potential metal box of death, but sure.” Roxie stepped inside, with Lucas pushing the stretcher alongside her. 

After a minute they heard Arin exclaim, “Going up!”

* * *

 

“Alright, everyone get down!”

Judy burst through the door with her shoulder. Her tranquilizer pressed against Ariel’s neck. Immediately SPEC trained their guns on her. “Drop your weapon! Let the ewe go, now!”

“Guys, wait! Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” The sheep bleated in Judy’s grasp. “It’s not a real gun!”

“Oh,” Judy retorted, “then you wouldn’t mind if I just shot this at them?”

“Put your weapon down!” More officers entered from the other hallways.

“I didn’t hear a please!”

“For God’s sake, don’t shoot!”

“Let the sheep go! Get on the floor!”

Suddenly there were metal clinks. The SPEC officers all turned. Judy squeezed her eyes shut and looked away.

A blast nearly blew out her eardrums. She opened her eyes to find SPEC reeling from the flashbangs. With quick aim she fired darts into each mammal’s neck. Within seconds they were all unconscious.

“Nice shooting,” Roxie dropped her own tranquilizer as she stepped off the elevator. She nudged one of the capybaras with her footpaw.  Lucas pushed the stretcher around the bodies.  “That should give us fifteen minutes. Knock the sheep out and let’s get going.”

“Not so fast, we have a problem.”

Lucas halted with the stretcher. Through his mask, Judy could see his brow raise. “A problem?”

“Something’s been implanted in the predators. We need to figure out what it is.”

Roxie looked from the rabbit to the wolf. “Lucas, you start getting people ready to go. Let me talk to the sheep really quickly,” she gestured to Judy. Ariel began squirming harder in protest. 

“What are you doing?! Let me go, please!”

“Go on,” Roxie shooed Lucas away as she took the ewe’s arm and forced her to the ground.

Judy knelt down in front of Ariel. “Okay, we’ll start nicely: What are the implants?”

“They — they’re SPEC chips! We were just told to do it, we don’t know what they are! Please don’t hurt me, I don’t even know who you are, but please...”

Roxie flicked out her claws in one paw, while the other pulled out a pistol. Ariel’s eyes went wide. Judy furrowed her brow though as she read the sheep’s face.  It was edged in nothing but fear.

“She doesn’t know,” Judy declared. “But I bet she  _ does  _ know somebody who could tell us?”

“Yes, yes! Dr. G, he worked with Mr. Hoofer on designing them, he can tell you!” 

“Dr G is here,” Judy explained to Roxie. “Look for a giraffe wearing a lab coat—”

The door at the far end of the central hall slammed open. Dr. G came out running with a battle cry. He picked up one of the SPEC rifles and aimed it… only to find his hooves didn’t fit in the trigger guard. At the same time, Roxie calmly stood up, pulled a bola out of her coat, whirled it around and cast it at the giraffe’s long gangly legs, making him fall forward Judy winced as his head slammed against the floor. His tongue lolled out and his head tilted to the side. Roxie stepped forward, peering into his face.

“I’ll get this guy awake, help the wolf with the stretchers.”

Roxie pulled a loop of rope from her coat and grabbed Ariel’s arms. The sheep’s protests faded as Judy dashed down the hallway where Lucas had gone. She found him setting an unconscious weasel on one stretcher. The other already had an otter, eyes closed and limbs strapped down. “Should I get this guy downstairs?”

“Yeah, that’d be perfect. Pierce is parked in the back, bring another stretcher back up with you.”

Judy grabbed the stretcher’s lever and pulled it to bring it closer to her height, then began to half-jog with it towards the elevator. She passed Roxie, who was just tying Dr. G’s hooves together. The giraffe still seemed unresponsive. Ariel sat against the wall, her eyes darting about worriedly. Judy rode the elevator down and wheeled the otter through the hospital’s first floor, finally reaching the maintenance exit. Pierce stood by the van tapping his paw nervously.  Empty stretchers surrounded him. His eyes lit up when he spotted Judy approaching. 

“Alright, first one of the night.” He got into the van’s cargo hold and pulled the stretcher aboard. “Go get the rest!” 

Judy gave a mock salute and bounded back inside pushing a stretcher. Dr. G had finally woken up. Roxie had him on his belly with his head sticking forward. She straddled his neck and tapped her claws on his skull. 

“I only have so much patience Doctor. I’ll ask again, what are the chips?”

The giraffe merely sneered. It would have been more intimidating if he didn’t have to roll his eyes nearly straight up to look at his captor. “You think you’re good at threats? You and I both know that you can’t kill me, because you need me, so we’ll just sit here all night until OW!”

Roxie swiped at his neck, and little droplets of red beaded out of the scratch. “Stop blabbering and be useful. I’m gonna count to five and you better tell me what I want to know. One, two, three…”

“You’re such a bluff. OW!”

Judy winced as the claws swiped again. “You got a lot of neck doctor, I can keep scooting down. One, two…”

Dr. G hissed through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. “You chompers are all the same. If I was free I’d throw you in a cell myse—OW!”

“Oh geez, the first one is already scabbing over. I gotta go deeper…”

“Alright, fine!” The giraffe tilted his head to the side to glare at Roxie with one eye. “They’re tracking chips! There, happy!?”

“Moderately satisfied, yes.” Roxie pulled out her tranquilizer and darted the giraffe in his neck. Within seconds his eyes glazed over and he was asleep. Judy jogged over towards Lucas, who was just wheeling the weasel out.

“Bad news. SPEC implanted tracking devices in the predators. If we try to drive off with them they’ll follow us.”

The wolf’s eyebrows widened, then he looked to the side in thought. “Do either of you have a scalpel?”

Judy patted at her pockets before realizing the ridiculousness of the request. Roxie spoke up, though, “Throwing knife?”

She held out a blade that was nearly as tall as Judy herself. Lucas stared at it before letting out a deep breath and shaking his head. Holding it as close to its point as possible, he laid out the weasel’s arm on the stretcher. The wolf hunched over. Judy didn’t dare speak. They all held their breath. He worked with delicate claws…

“There you are.”

He pulled out a small black speck, shiny with blood and oil, that he tossed on the floor. Roxie slammed her heel down and ground it into the linoleum. 

“I’ll go down and extract the other chip from the otter. SPEC might have already seen it moving though, and be onto us. We need to act fast. Judy, get us three more specimens. Try to keep them a size that we can handle, okay?” He handed over the key card.

“Sure thing.” Judy pulled out her tranquilizer and went down the hallway, Roxie following. There was a jackal. Dart him. A raccoon, dart her. But Judy was looking for…

“This your fox?” Roxie asked. 

Judy nodded. Nick was curled up in the corner, ears flattened against his head. A low growl escaped him as the rabbit and lynx stared. Judy pulled open the access hatch. 

“We’re getting you out of here,” she whispered.

With a hiss the dart launched right at the fox. He yelped in shock and flailed for a moment. Judy slammed the hatch shut just before Nick threw himself at the glass, teeth bared and claws fully extended. His scratching grew slower, his growls quieter… finally he slumped against the door in a blissful sleep. 

Without another word Judy unlocked the door with the key card. She picked up his paws while Roxie hooked her fingers under his shoulders. Together they lifted him onto the stretcher and tied him down. Judy stared down at her fox, sleeping there… for the first time in weeks he seemed like his old self. Finally the rabbit straightened up. Roxie didn’t say a word as she pushed the stretcher away. Judy stared after, watching her fox disappear down the hallway.

After a couple agonizing minutes, Lucas reappeared with an empty stretcher. “Got the chip out of Nick. Who else you get?”

“This raccoon, and this jackal.” She pointed through the windows at the sleeping predators. She opened the jackal’s cell and began helping Lucas lift him up. “Everything going alright?”

“Yeah, after these two, we should be ready to get out of here.”

“Perfect.” Judy heaved up his footpaws.

The jackal tore his arms from Lucas’ grasp.

He snarled as he lunged at Judy. Teeth and claws filled her vision before she could even scream. His paws threw her back. THOOM. Pain in her arm. Pain. Such pain. Sharp teeth. Nick pouncing on her again…

“JUDY!”

In an instant Lucas was atop the jackal. The wolf pulled her attacker off. With a swipe the jackal tore a hole in his mask. Lucas’ gritted teeth showed.

“Get the tranq!”

Judy sprawled over the floor towards the tranquilizer. Her arm. Her arm felt broken. Her arm felt like it’d been torn to shreds. Yet she could still feel it. A small blessing.

She clamped down her paw on the tranq gun. Rolled onto her back. Aimed for the jackal snarling and writhing in Lucas’ grip. Steady… steady…

The dart went right in the jackal’s rear. 

Judy dropped the weapon with a gasp. Her arm. God, her arm. She clamped a paw to her bicep. Warm stickiness greeted her palm. The rabbit steeled herself to look down at it. A bad cut, but luckily nothing had torn or been mangled. She let out a deep breath. It just felt worse than it actually was.

Lucas dropped the jackal onto the stretcher, panting himself. He tied down the limbs. “Leave the raccoon for Roxie. We gotta get outta here.” He hunched over and began removing the chip from the jackal’s arm. Judy looked into the cell where the raccoon lay sleeping, still gripping her arm in one paw.  Lucas tossed the chip away, and they began trudging together to the elevator. Dr. G was still out cold on the ground. Ariel kept struggling in her bonds. 

“Wait, let me go before you leave! I promise, I won’t be any problem, I… wait a minute…” She stared at Judy, her mouth open. 

At that moment, the rabbit’s heart stopped. She blinked. Her contacts. They weren’t in. They’d fallen out when the jackal attacked. And with her arm exposed, showing her real fur color…

“...Judy Hopps?”

Without missing a beat, Lucas pulled out a pistol and shot the sheep between the eyes. 

“Oh my god!” Judy recoiled as the lamb bobbed forward dead. “Lucas!”

“Don’t say my name!” The wolf hissed. “I had to, we can’t let anyone know you were involved.”

“You killed her!” Her arm’s pain gave way to the flips her stomach did now. “I can’t…”

“Come on!” Lucas pushed her towards the elevator. In a daze, Judy followed. 

 


	19. Antidote

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long delay - I had been working overtime, plus I wanted to finish Ursa Geminids. Now that that's done though, I am free to focus on this story again! Expect more regular chapters from here on out!

 

"Come on, come on!" As Arin waved Judy into the van, the rabbit grabbed the door with her good arm and pulled herself up. She sucked air through her teeth as her other arm throbbed with pain, and bent her head down. Judy had to weave between the legs of the stretchers to negotiate some space in the crowded van. Lucas and Arin barely fit in the back with her and the tranquilized mammals. Nick lay motionless on the stretcher. Lucas pulled the door shut before banging on the cabside wall.

"I think we're gonna make it," the wolf grinned. "As soon as we get back we'll test out the antidote and see how it goes." He noticed Judy staring him down though, and his smile faded. "What's the matter?"

Judy closed her eyes to catch her breath. Her chest heaved; she consciously tried to calm herself. "You… you just killed that sheep."

Lucas' eyes glanced back towards the hospital, then to Judy as he bobbed his head around to formulate an answer. "Judy, listen… she saw you. If Hoofer or Bellwether find out you were part of the break-in, we lose our route into the ZPD."

"He's right, Judy." Arin held onto one of the stretchers to keep it from rolling too far. "When you do this kind of work as much as Roxie and I do, you learn that sometimes you've gotta do some… _morally gray_ things to get the job done. It's probably a good idea to let this go—"

"Ariel was tied up." Judy snapped back at the collie, cutting him off. Her eyes glared up at Lucas. "This wasn't just a firefight, you executed her."

Lucas ran his paw over his face and shook his head. "Look, there's nothing else we could have done. We don't have room in the van to take her anyways."

"We could have fit her somewhere," Judy felt the van lurch. Her arm hit the wall, and she hissed again as the pain shot through. "I… I could have found my own way home. It'd be inconvenient, but she'd be alive."

"But that inconvenience could have cost us the entire plan," Arin nodded.

Judy glared at the dog. "So you're saying it was _right_ to kill Ariel?"

"It was right to complete the mission cleanly. Look," Arin raised his paws to pre-empt Judy's anger. "I don't like hurting people. I don't like killing people. But look at what's stake here! Now that we have predators to finalize the antidote, we can undermine Bellwether's plan and save the city. So, don't you think that now is _not_ the time to let _one sheep_ ruin everything we've risked our lives for?"

"Thank you, Arin," Lucas nodded. "And I suppose I could have handled the situation better. When we're in a spot like that though, it's hard to weigh options. I hope you can at least understand that Judy, as a police officer?"

The rabbit stared up at him, thinking long and hard. "Alright, I'll let it go." She leaned between the crossed legs of the stretcher, staring up at Nick one bed over. She couldn't squash the unpleasant feeling that lurked behind her though. It threatened to wrap around and drag her onto a stage she didn't want to be on. It wasn't shame, it felt stronger than that…

Damnation. That's it.

* * *

Over an hour later, the van came to a halt. Judy heard the cab doors open and shut, then the doors of the back swung apart to reveal the cougar butler. His half-lidded eyes scanned over Arin, Lucas, and Judy, then the stretchers. "A little worse for the wear, I see."

"They're gonna be waking up again soon," Lucas edged past and hopped onto the ground. "At which point they need to be inside, bound, and hopefully cured."

Judy worked her way out as well. "You go inside and get the antidote ready," she said to Lucas. "We'll get everyone unloaded, don't worry."

Along with Arin, Roxie, and Pierce, and even some help from the butler (who managed to not even wrinkle his suit despite his exertion), Judy managed to get the mammals unloaded. Everyone took one stretcher. Of course, Judy took Nick's stretcher. She had to reach up to push on the bed, and she hated that she couldn't look into his face from her perspective. One at a time, they disappeared down an elevator.

After a turn down a concrete hallway, Judy found herself pushing Nick into a barren room with stark lighting overhead and little else. Some stains on the floor indicated that this room had only recently been vacated. Heck, Judy felt like she'd seen storage rentals with nicer conditions than this. But it didn't matter. Nick was here. Nick had been saved. Judy kicked the brake and hopped up onto the stretcher.

The fox was just beginning to stir. His tattered clothes revealed russet fur that had been singed in some places, grown bare in others. A lump caught Judy's attention. She reached with both paws to part the fur, and found the underlying skin to be bruised. A whimper came from his mouth. Judy backed off as Nick's head lolled to the other side, brow furrowed, eyes fluttering like he was struggling to wake. His hands tried to raise up, but he only succeeded in straining against his bonds. With her heart hammering she hopped back to the ground just as Lucas came in. He had his coat on.

"We're ready to test the antidote. Come on."

Judy followed him out the door, which he locked up. "We _are_ going to save Nick, right?"

"Of course, but we want to test with a larger animal first. If the antidote is off in any way, it'll cause less damage to a larger mammal. Safety first… at least, as much safety as we can afford right now." He knocked on the lab door before opening. The jackal lay on a stretcher, starting to wake up, while the others gathered on the opposite wall to watch. Lucas picked up a needle and began to work.

"So Pierce," Judy approached the black wolf, "when will we get this shipped out?"

His brow furrowed, making his scar scrunch up. "Usually it takes up to a year, but," he interrupted the shock in Judy's face, "that usually includes clinical trials and regulations. If we go into overdrive, we can start getting batches out in two weeks."

Judy took a sigh of relief. "Thank God… but still, two weeks away…"

"It will be a rough two weeks," the butler came in with a smartphone in paw. "'Break-in at ZooTech Medical Center: One Dead, Pro-Pred Terrorists Suspected.'"

Roxie looked to the side. "I've been called worse before. I imagine Bellwether and Hoofer aren't going to be too happy?"

"Most certainly not," Lucas came forward with the syringe ready. A clear amber fluid filled the cylinder. "But we'll make it work."

"I'll stay on the job," Judy nodded. "I'm sure that Bogo can help too. We can keep them from implanting those tracking chips, and by the time we get the antidote done… we'll be good to go!"

"Here's to the end of Bellwether's office term!" With that, Lucas bent over the jackal. Judy found a stool and stood on top to watch the scene unfold.

The jackal snarled as the needle hit his skin. His eyes flew open and he tried to thrash about. Lucas grabbed the arm and held it steady as he inserted the tip. The jackal arched his back and screamed; Pierce tried to force his chest down to the table. "Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay, just a little bit longer…"

"Got it!" Lucas stepped back with the needle. The cylinder was now empty. "Now, let's wait…"

Judy watched closely. The jackal writhed and howled. Bit by bit though, the movements slowed. The eyes opened, no longer wild but searching and focused. "Wha… wha…"

"Sid?" Lucas waved his paw in front of the jackal's face. "Sid Augustus, can you hear me?"

The jackal nodded.

"You were hit by a chemical compound that drove you mad. It's okay though, you're safe now."

The jackal kept nodding.

"Is there anything we can get for you?"

Still nodding without stop.

"What can I get for you?"

Still nodding, with no words.

Judy felt her stomach clench, and opened her mouth. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Still nodding.

"Are you a rabbit?"

The jackal kept right on nodding his head. Judy glanced at Lucas, who glanced at everyone around. "Sid? Sid, you're going to be okay. Probably just some withdrawal kind of symptoms, or—"

"Oh I'm fine." The jackal suddenly spoke with a smile on his face. "I'm kinda hungry though. Don't worry, I brought food with me." With that, he bent his snout down and sank his teeth into his own shoulder.

"SID!" Lucas grabbed the jackal's head and held the jaws closed, tilting the snout up. "Oh my god, don't! Judy, do you have a muzzle on you?!"

"Come on doc, I'm fine!" The jackal giggled through clenched teeth. "I'm just a little hungry is all, just a bit hungry! Let me eat! LET ME EAT, DEAR GOD I'M GONNA STARVE!"

He wrenched his jaws free again, but instead of biting he started screaming. Judy watched with horror, and leaped onto his chest. She put her handpaws over his heart. "His pulse is going way too fast! Someone give him a sedative!"

"Awwwww, buunnnnn…" He drawled and stared at her lovingly. The jackal's eyes didn't blink, and tears ran down his fur. "Dun worry, lil bun-bun, I'll be jusssst fiiine…" He devolved into giggling again. "I'm okaaaaay."

"Okay okay, stand back!" Lucas swept his arm out to motion Judy out of the way. "Just gonna give him a tranquilizer and—" He lowered it to Sid's neck, but the jackal turned his snout and hit it from his handpaw.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" The jackal half-laughed, half-roared, "I'm okay! I don't need no needles, I'm gonna die! Oh god, please make it stop! I can't take it any more, I just love you all so so much, and I want you to know PLEASE HELP ME! HELP ME! Help… help me…please…"

The jackal quieted, the mouth and eyes hanging open. Judy felt at his heart again. She felt her whole body shivering as she announced, "He's dead…"

The room became deathly quiet. All eyes rested on Lucas, who stared with broken eyes and his mouth agape. He didn't look up at anyone around him. Then, his face set. With slow deliberate motions, the wolf slid off his lab coat and shook out the wrinkles. Judy backed off as he spread it out over Sid's face.

Lucas hunched over, rested his hands on the stretcher, and hung his head down. Everyone else left without a word.


	20. Back to Work

Judy collapsed onto her bed as soon as she got home. She closed her eyes.

Almost immediately it felt like, her alarm clock rang.

With a groan, the rabbit pulled herself into a sitting position. She glared at the alarm clock and tapped it off. ‘Should I just call in today?’ she asked herself. Immediately, she thought of what a SPEC replacement would do, and decided against it. Judy got her clean uniform as she turned on her radio.

“—spike of attacks and threats from the Golden Claw,” Bellwether said, “and with last night’s break in we will be increasing—”

Judy pounded the power button with her fist and groaned again. “God, I hate this so much right now…”

As she struggled with her SPEC jacket, only one sleeve on, the rabbit tried to unlock her phone to play some music, anything to liven the dead atmosphere. That’s when she saw the email from Bogo: ‘My office. NOW!’

“And today just gets better and better…”

* * *

 

One transit later, Judy walked through the doors of the ZPD to find a crowd of journalists at the press release area. They were all hurling questions at… Hoofer? Her blood chilled at the sight. She couldn’t make out any words as she darted past before the cameras could spot her. Minutes later she found herself in a familiar spot: sitting on an oversized chair in front of Bogo’s desk, with the chief himself glaring down at her. He turned on an old CD player, filling the air with background music which Judy assumed was to deter eavesdroppers. “I had three mammals go over this place for bugs, so we’re free to talk,” he spoke softly. “And I’d like to open by asking… what the actual devil happened last night?!”

He restrained himself from yelling, but it still stung. Judy whispered back making sure to over-enunciate her words. “Things went a bit haywire, but we still got the preds back to the lab. Pierce and Lucas are working on the cure now.”

“Don’t change the subject. You know what I want to know about,” he held up a newspaper that read ‘ONE DEAD IN HOSPITAL ATTACK’. “We agreed that no one would be killed.  _ You,  _ personally, said that no one would be killed. What. Happened?”

“Chief, I… I understand, it looks bad. It just happened so fast, Lucas shot a sheep who had seen me underneath my disguise—”

“WHAT?!”

“No no, nobody else saw me! I promise, I give my word as an officer, and…” she stood up to her full height on the chair, “I will take full responsibility for my actions.”

“No need; Clive Hoofer has already done so.” At her quizzical look, Bogo handed her a folder. “He came in today and said he wanted to talk to you, alone.” With that he jabbed the power button on his CD player, stowed it in his desk, and walked around to the door. “Please wait here, and review today’s assignment. You’re on patrol today in Glacier Falls.”

As he shut the door, Judy opened the folder to find a note penciled on top: ‘Arin and Roxie leaving today. Still working on cure. Pierce will meet in Glacier Falls.’

Her heart pounding, Judy moved it to the back of her paperwork. She went over the rest of the next sheet, reading and re-reading without gleaning any info from it, until the door opened again.

“Good morning Miss Hopps,” she turned to face Clive as he greeted her. His hooves made little sound on the floor as he strode over to Bogo’s desk. “I hope the chief won’t mind if I sit down for this.”

“I can’t speak for him,” Judy shrugged.

The goat looked her over, and once again Judy had the uncomfortable sensation of being combed over without permission. “I take it you’ve heard the news?”

“About the break-in? Yeah, I heard about it this morning. Does your department have any leads?”

“Hm,” the goat leaned back in Bogo’s chair and pressed his handhooves together. “A curious question. To ask SPEC if we have any leads implies that the ZPD has none itself, which is odd since the ZPD has far more resources than we do. But, the way you say ‘your department’…” Clive’s face filled with hurt. “I thought you were with me and my team?”

“Ack, sorry…” Judy tried to set her thoughts straight, adjust the mask without Hoofer seeing. “I’ve just been here so long, you know, it feels like home base for me, still getting into that mindset!” She weakly chuckled.

Hoofer stared straight into her eyes. Then he pulled out a cellphone. He placed it on the desk, and began playing classical music as loud as the speaker could go. “A common trick,” he explained with a grin. “Very useful for when you don’t want to be heard, isn’t it?”

Judy’s stomach seized. Could it be mere coincidence?

“Judith, we have a big problem. I’d say it’s a worst case-scenario, but our worst-case wasn’t even this bad. Predators have resorted to terror. They haven’t just killed someone, and they haven’t just killed someone in a hospital; they killed someone in a hospital, which was on a school’s property. When they strike again, it may be a kindergarten or a church. I honestly blame myself for my oversight, but we  _ will _ stop them. If we do not catch them now, they will get bolder and all the more cruel. We need to be united, and we need to be strong.”

Judy sorted through his words. “I agree. We need to stop mammals before they do something harmful.”

“I knew you would see reason,” Clive smiled thinly. “Judy, you’ve always been a very smart rabbit. Your passion is an inspiration for young herbivores all over Zootopia.”

She bit her lip, and she couldn’t help but feel pride bubble inside her. “Thank you, Mr. Hoofer. I just tried my best to get here, and to do what’s right.”

He nodded at her answer. “It’s a shame that so many mammals don’t share our drive. If I had an army of Judy’s in SPEC, why, I don’t think the attack last night would have happened, don’t you?”

“Probably not sir,” Judy had to do everything in her power to not snicker at the irony. Hoofer paused though, and suddenly she doubted if the irony really  _ was  _ lost on him.

“I wanted to talk to you alone because I have an offer to make. Would you be interested in working with SPEC permanently? We can certainly negotiate a generous pay packet, vacation days, and so on. Plus, you’d be making a real difference.”

He tilted his head down, waiting for an answer. “Gosh, I… I don’t know. I mean, once this whole ordeal is over, won’t SPEC be shut down? I mean, it’s an ‘emergency commission’, and I’d rather have the job security.”

“What I’m about to say,” Hoofer lowered his voice and peered at the door, double-checking for eavesdroppers, “cannot leave this room. But I’ve already spoken with Mayor Bellwether, and we’re planning on folding the ZPD into SPEC.”

“What?!” Judy let her veneer fall for a second. “But, why?”

“You yourself asked if SPEC had found any leads. If the ZPD cannot stop a terror attack, maybe we should focus more resources towards the bigger problem at hand.”

“Mr. Hoofer, this is… I mean, the ZPD has been around for decades!” Judy’s mind raced to fully comprehend everything he had just proposed. “Plus, SPEC is supposed to just be focused on predators, what about all the other crimes that—”

“That’s a responsibility we’re willing to shoulder. As for an appeal to tradition, surely you know as well as I do how fallacious that is. The Zootopia Police Department helped us in the past, but those days are over. Today is now, and we need a modern solution for modern problems. We cannot let sentimentality stand in the way of progress. Now, again, will you be willing to join us permanently?”

Judy looked around the office, the seal on the back wall, the little ZPD pens that they handed out at public libraries and schools. Her mind suddenly pictured them mounted on a wall as a collector’s item, or a grandmother handing one off to a child and saying “You won’t find one of those anymore!” A bizarre fantasy to be sure, but her mind needed distraction from what she’d just heard.

“If you need some time, I’ll wait for you to email me.” Hoofer stood up from his seat, took his phone, and began walking to the door.

“Wait.” She turned to face the goat. “What will happen to Chief Bogo?”

“He’ll be simply ‘Bogo’. He’ll be offered a position, but between you and me, I’m not fond of larger herbivores myself. They don’t understand the struggles that we smaller mammals go through.”

Judy looked out the door again, seeing Bogo’s name inscribed backwards from her perspective. “Right. Mr. Hoofer, I accept your offer.”

He grinned, showing off his flat molars. “I’m pleased to hear that. Oh, and Judy, as for leads… we do in fact have several.” With a glint in his eye, he walked out.

* * *

 

Judy felt the Canissons’ note in her pocket as she rode towards Glacier Falls. The tram bumped along until she finally stepped out into the cold. She shivered, feeling her fur stand on end to help warm her better. The crowd of mammals dispersed, leaving only one in her way.

“Mrs. Hopps!” Vinny came forward. The young armadillo’s snout barely peeked over a huge package he carried in his arms. “Mrs. Hopps, I need your help!”

“Whoa, whoa!” Judy took the package and hefted it up onto her chest. “What’s this for?”

Vinny stepped back; the package was really not that heavy, but the poor kid seemed tuckered out anyways. “It’s… it’s for my friend. I… we, my mom and I… whew…” He took a deep breath. “I said you would deliver it for us.”

“Oh, for your friend, the… the…” Judy scrunched up her face to remember.

“The liger.”

“That’s the one!”

“Yeah. Could you find her and give it to her? Please? And this too.” He pulled a crumpled envelope from his pocket that had not been sealed, and he took some folded papers out. They were adorned with drawings. “See, she and I are both artists, and I wanted to show what I’m working on. We’re both going to open our own museum someday,” Vinny stated very matter-of-factly. “We always critique our art. One time I critiqued her drawing and saw that she had made an apple green. Apples aren’t supposed to be green.”

“But I thought some apples were green?” Judy had to bite her lip at Vinny’s insistence; she didn’t want to laugh at him, it’d be cruel to do to such a young child.

“Only apples that aren’t ripe are green. So when I critiqued, I told her that she needed ripe apples. She didn’t color them in though, so now I colored in my mountains orange. Now when she does a critique, she’ll see that colors are very serious.”

Judy had to bite down again. “You two take your critiques very seriously, then?”

“Oh yeah. That’s what fancy artists do: critique.” He was clearly very proud for learning such an advanced word. “Anyways, here you go.” He stuffed the papers back into the envelope haphazardly, and balanced it on top of the box. “Thank you Miss Hopps!”

“Wait, wait! What’s your friend’s name? I need to know her name if you want me to deliver this.”

“Oh, sorry. Her name is Paula Felix. Thank you Miss Hopps!” With that, he walked back down the street, a young boy walking parallel to barbed wire and fences and concrete barricades, winter fog drifting until he disappeared from view.

“Paula Felix,” Judy pulled out her phone and logged onto her SPEC profile. “Paula Felix, Paula Felix… got it!” A brief search had yielded the family’s address, and she set out. The rabbit passed through the checkpoint with nothing more than a stiff nod from Hagins the pony, who was rigorously patting down animals half his size. She padded down the frosty sidewalk as predators stepped around, considering window displays and disappearing inside to emerge with steaming cups of coffee.

As Judy rounded the corner, she felt an eerie quiet. She didn’t know if it was just a trick of the mind, until she finally realized it: there were almost no cars. Very few vehicles made their way around the roads here. It felt almost like a picture from the 1920s… excepting the electronics outlets and the dress of the mammals she saw. Another half block down, and Judy struggled up the steps. She hit the doorbell with her elbow and stepped back.

The door opened to a thin male lion. His eyes looked her up and down. “What is it, Officer?”

“I have a delivery, Mr. Felix, from a certain Vinny and his family?”

Felix blinked at her. Then he called inside, “Paula! Vinny sent you something!”

“Really?!” A young liger came bounding downstairs. “No kidding!”

“The envelope on top is for you,” Judy tucked the box under her chin to hand over the drawings. “And I presume the package is for you, sir?”

The lion took the package in his larger paws, and gave Judy another glance. He slid out a claw and slit the tape. He opened it, and his mouth fell agape.

“Oh my gosh...” Felix pulled out a loaf of wrapped bread. Then he returned it to pull out a handful of money. His eyes seemed almost glossy. When he caught Judy staring at him, he suddenly tried to regain composure. “Sorry, things have just been… things have been hard since the missus went… since she went sav…she—”

“I understand.” Judy didn’t need to hear any more, and set a handpaw on his knee. “Listen, have a good day, and I hope that things get better.” She turned to leave.

“Wait, Officer Hopps?” When she turned, the lion had cut a slab from the bread. From the scent, Judy could tell it was banana bread. “Please, take this. And thank you.”

She looked up at the offering. With small paws she reached up, standing on her toes, and accepted it. “Thank you.”

With a slow nod of the head and glossy eyes, Felix closed the door. Just before it shut though, Judy could hear Paula shout from inside, “Oh my god, orange mountains are  _ not  _ the same as green apples!”


	21. Crack in the Mask

Bellwether pushed open the doors to her office. She took a moment to pause and smell the air…a rich combination of pine polish and fresh soil in the fern pots. For so long she’d darted in and out of here to deliver memos.

Now it was all hers.

The lush carpeting was hers, and it felt so good on her hooves. The great flags hanging by the window were hers. The widescreen television to use for telechats was hers. The desk was hers, and her nametag proved it. The great wide windows were hers, cleaned to crystal quality, and they looked down on  _ her _ city.

Mammals of all kinds floated about on the streets. The sheep could spy a group of foals and piglets in front of the capitol building. Cars rolled back and forth, and in the heart of Savannah Central the plaza filled with picnickers and businessmammals. Far on the other side, the ZPD sat. The one part of the city that she couldn’t control… but that was going to change soon.

There was a knock on her door. “Miss Bellwether?”

“Just a minute!” she answered. She had no real reason; she merely enjoyed being able to dictate when she could be interrupted. After a pause she called out, “Yes?”

The latch clicked. A llama came in with a stack of documents. “The new security bill from the legislature. Would you like me to summarize for you?”

“I can understand, thank you.” With a nod, she indicated for the llama to leave. She obliged, and Bellwether took a final look out the window. Her heart refilled with satisfaction at the view. Finally she turned back to her desk —  _ her  _ desk — and read the front page of the bill:

          SAFETY ASSURANCE WHEN FACING EMERGENCY (SAFE) ACT

          On the ability of the Savage Predator Emergency Commission to:

  * Require and perform medical treatment in the interest of public safety
  * Assume the privileges and responsibilities of the Zootopia Police Department
  * Conduct searches of private property to prevent future attacks
  * Detain individuals believed to be a danger to public security



“Hmmmm…” She chewed on the end of her pen, the slick surface sliding across her molars. “I bet Hoofer’s gonna like this…”

“I believe Hoofer  _ will _ like it.” The goat’s droll voice made Bellwether’s eyes dart up. “The Safe Act?”

“Yep! Now we can track all those predators and get Bogo out of the way in one fell swoop. Things are going well! Oh!” With a giggle she slid out the drawers on her desk and pulled out a pair of imported cigars made for elephants; they were nearly as long as her forearm. “Want a smoke?”

“A filthy habit,” Clive shook his head. “And I thought you don’t smoke?”

“I didn’t, but the mayor of Zootopia gets the good stuff! At least, I think it’s good.” She tried to fit the cigar in her mouth. It was comically oversized for such a small sheep. Bellwether had just as much trouble with the lighter, and she kept flicking it to light. The huge cigar muffled her speech as she asked, “How the preh tae ehrythin’?”

“The press is wondering what good all these measures are when attacks are getting worse.” Clive stood in front of Bellwether’s desk, his eyes staring down at her with a calm, piercing look. “Unless we can produce tangible results, I’m afraid public opinion will sour.”

“Ou cah tae care o’ tha,” Bellwether still struggled with the lighter. Finally a small flame popped up. 

“Yes, and that’s why I’m more worried about something else. Did you see which predators were taken last night?”

“Why shoul’ I care?” Bellwether sucked on the end of the cigar. Immediately she began coughing; it stung her throat badly, and her head began to spin. The lit stub fell on the desk, and the embers smoldered down the long body. Lazy grey curls relaxed to the ceiling as she hacked the smoke from her lungs. Tears ran from her eyes.

The whole time Clive watched without motion or comment. He only spoke when Bellwether began to quiet down. “Are you quite finished yet?”

Finally she managed to choke out, “What is your problem? What’s wrong?”

“One of the predators was a fox named Nicholas Wilde. I believe he has a connection with Judith Hopps?”

“Yeah, they were…” she coughed again, getting the last of the smoke from her lungs, “working together on investigating me before I darted him. Are you saying she broke him out?”

“Useless to accuse without proper evidence. It could simply be a coincidence. But with Judy’s history, plus the conversations I’ve had with her…” Hoofer turned around to stare at the wall, “well, I don’t believe she was ever actually indoctrinated.”

“What?!” Bellwether sat forward. Her alarm quickly dissipated though. “Well, you know what, we’ll just get the doctor again, say that she had a relapse, try again—”

“They say that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is insanity.” Hoofer turned a condescending eye to Bellwether. “I prefer the term ‘stupidity’.”

Bellwether stood up in her chair, her hooves clenching into fists. “Alright, you think you’re such a wise guy? Who came up with this whole plan in the first place? That’s right, it was me! Without me, you’d be jobless, typing out angry posts from your bedroom!”

“And without me,” Hoofer did not even raise his eyebrows, “your administration would have collapsed. Tina Gray would have taken office, you’d be found out, and you’d end up behind bars.  Who needs who more?”

“You know what?! I don’t even need to sign this!”  Bellwether sat back down and crossed her arms. “What if I don’t, huh? What are you gonna do about it?”

“Oh, but you will sign it,” Hoofer paced slowly around the desk, “and I’ll tell you why. If you don’t sign it, Chief Bogo works freely. Judy Hopps works freely. Every day they plan out how to undermine you, how to get you out of office. Now, who do you want running the police: them, or someone who will still support you in office, as long as you act intelligently?”

Bellwether shivered as Hoofer brushed a hoof against the top of her chair. “How do I know you’ll keep supporting me though?”

“You don’t. But I will, because your interests align with mine.” The goat stopped, putting one hoof on the desk and the other on the back of the sheep’s chair. “And I will keep Hopps silent; we lost one bargaining chip, but we have others to pull out…”

Bellwether stared up at him. Then she looked at the bill. She fiddled with the cap, twisting the top to make the tip come in and out. In and out. 

She lowered it.

She signed her name.

* * *

 

Judy walked down the street, her eyes scanning for any signs of trouble from predator and prey - mostly the latter. Then again, there was the graffiti on the wall… the Golden Claw. Slogans like “PREDS RULE” and “GRAZERS SUCK” adorned the alleyways, and expletives were hurled at Bellwether by purple paint upon the plaster. 

Everything seemed so dreary though… Glacier Falls had once been a thriving destination, but with so many crowded into a small area, it just couldn’t handle all the new residents. Even the weather seemed perpetually gloomy, with the clouds only ever shifting from light grey to dark grey. Judy scanned through her list of names, looking for any familiar ones. 

Then she found one. The rabbit marched off to his home right away, and hammered on his door. It swung open. “Travis!”

The coyote blinked at her, frozen in the door. “O-Officer? Can I help you?”

“Travis, it’s me, Judy.” She put on her best smile. “Can I come in?”

“W-well, I was just—”

“Too late, I’m already in.” The rabbit squeezed past the coyote’s leg and came into his studio apartment. “You got your own space, huh? One of the lucky few.”

“Yes, it’s, uh… well, kinda nice to come home to quiet,” he chuckled weakly. There was a long awkward silence. Finally Travis opened his mouth again, “Why are you here?”

“Travis, you didn't even talk to me at the stop the other day. I can only get so much information from your papers. How have you been?”

The coyote paused and fiddled with his fingers. “I’ve been… I’ve been making it.”

Judy sighed and walked into the main living room. “Travis, please, you gotta open up to…” She stared in horror at the table. There was a newspaper clipping from the student who’d set himself alight. There was a bucket, and next to it a jug of gasoline, and besides those a box of matches. The rabbit took it all in. Her jaw hung open for a moment. Then her brow curled down, and she clenched her fists.

“That. Is. ENOUGH!” 

She grabbed the matches and the bucket, marching past Travis who protested her movements. “Judy, please, I was just thinking—”

“No! You are  _ thinking _ none of that! You are  _ doing _ none of that!” She opened the door and chucked the bucket outside. It clanged on the sidewalk. Leaving it open, she marched to the nearest bathroom and dunked the matches inside a toilet. Judy leapt up and flushed it. “Travis, you are being ridiculous! Getting yourself killed will not solve anything!”

“Judy, it’s… it’s for the greater good,” he spoke like it pained him to struggle to that conclusion. “N-nobody will miss me when I’m—”

“ _ I’ll _ miss you!” Judy screamed at the top of her lungs, silencing Travis. Her fur prickled, and she feared that she was overheard. She didn’t care. “Travis, you are a good mammal. I hate that bad things have happened to you. I’ve already lost one mammal close to me, and at this point, I don’t know if I’ll get him back. If I lose you…” she shook her head. “I gotta save someone, at least.”

“Judy, why do you care so much?” Travis approached her with a confused look. “You said you hated predators?”

She looked up at him. “I don’t. I don’t hate predators, and I don’t hate you. Travis, the predators here in Glacier Falls need to remember that there’s still hope. Hope is coming! I can’t tell you all the details, but hope is coming.”

As Judy finished her rant, she panted for breath. The coyote leaned in closer. “What… what kind of hope do you mean?”

Judy took a breath, calming her racing heart, “You’re gonna get to go home. You’re gonna get to go back to work as a nurse. You  _ will _ have your life back,” she stared dead into his eyes, “ _ That’s  _ the kind of hope you need to have.”

Travis ran his hand around the back of his neck, staring with pain at some far corner of the room. “Judy, we… I can’t… we can’t just slap happy face stickers on everything and expect that to work,” he gestured out the window. “What am I supposed to do?”

Judy tilted her head forward, closing her eyes, thinking hard. All at once, she had an idea. “The Rage n’ Rave Parade...”

Travis tilted his head. “What about it? Not like I can go there...”

“No no, listen. Hoofer cancelled it due to ‘safety concerns.’” 

“What? It’s… it’s gone for nearly a hundred years, and now they’re pulling the plug?”

“Yeah, everyone’s bummed out, but what if…” Judy cocked her eyebrow as she smirked, “the predators hosted it themselves?”

“Judy, I…” Travis bit his lip. “I don’t know if that could work. We need so many resources and people behind it.”

“That’s right, and they’ll need a lot people to help put it all together. People used to high-stress environments, and working with others to make people feel better…” The rabbit nudged his knee.

“I...I don’t think I could help… I mean, I’m only a nurse, and—”

He stopped as Judy gave him a soft squeeze around the leg, pressing her cheek against his thigh in a hug. “Please, Travis… help me out with this? You can make people happy, you’ll see that you mean something to others, because you really do.”

The coyote paused for a few seconds, his arms out in surprise. Then he slowly lowered them, and rested his paws on her shoulders. “Judy… I…”

She looked up and saw tears in his eyes, the fur on his cheeks wet and shiny. Slowly, Judy led him to a chair and had him sit down, where he buried his face in his palm. “Oh god, what was I  _ thinking? _ What… what…”

“It’s okay,” Judy whispered. “I’m here, I’m here…” Her phone buzzed, but she ignored it, leaving it in her pocket. “Let it out, let it all out…” The coyote shivered under her paw. After a while though, he lifted an arm and pulled her into a shaky hug. At that, Judy nearly cried herself. She had Travis back….

Finally he quieted, and whispered, “Thank you, Judy.” With a sniff he tried to dry his eyes with his pads. “I’ll… I’ll try to help with the parade, okay?” 

“I would like that,” she replied with a smile. She gave him another squeeze, before letting go. “Listen, I’m going to have some other predators come check on you later. I’m gonna see you tomorrow though, got that?”

Travis nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see you, tomorrow. I… I promise.”

Judy gave him a long look. “Things are gonna be okay.  _ I _ promise.” With that, she gave a last wave before walking from the room. After closing the apartment door behind her she checked her phone. The message made her heart stop:

NICK NEXT FOR TESTING. WANT TO BE PRESENT?


	22. Nick Tries the Antidote

Judy barked into her receiver, “Officer Hopps, coming in! Officer Hopps to Dispatch!”

“Hopps, this is dispatch” the voice crackled. “What’s your situation, over?”

“There’s been a family emergency. I need to go off the clock immediately!” The excuse ran off her tongue as quickly as she ran through the streets of Glacier Falls.

“If you need to go, it’ll be sick hours.”

“Yes, fine! I just have to go!” She nearly slipped on the ice as she scrambled to Pierce’s door and slammed the bell. Buzzing sounded inside.

No answer. 

“Come on, come on Pierce! I gotta be there!” She hammered on the door with her fist over and over and over and over until the pain split her pinkie. With a hiss she slammed her palm on the bell again. “No, nooo…”

She turned around and scanned the street. There were no vehicles, except on the other side of the barrier. Judy began sprinting for it, eyeing the barbed wire…

“Hey, hey!” A ram in SPEC uniform came dashing up to her. “Go to the checkpoint!”

“SPEC officer! It’s an emergency!” Judy leapt into the air. The wire caught on her toe, and she felt it nick her. She had no time to worry about her toe. Instead she ran in front of an oncoming beaver’s truck, her paws outstretched.

“Hey, bun!” The driver leaned from the window. “What’s the deal, I’m tryin’ to get groceries!”

“Citizen, I’m invoking SPEC Regulation 015, appropriation of civilian property for use of extreme situations.”

“...what?”

“I need your car! Now!”

“What?! You can’t do that!”

“Yes I can, and I need it now! It’s an emergency” She yanked open the passenger door and shoved herself inside, pulling out her badge to brandish it. The beaver offered little more resistance, and Judy took the driver’s seat. She yanked a card from her pocket. “You can find your vehicle here in twenty-four hours.”

“...this is a smoothie punch card.” The beaver barely got a word in before Judy slammed her footpaw on the gas and screeched away. He looked down at it. “Hey, it’s filled out though. Free smoothie, I guess…”

* * *

 

The guard in front of the Canisson’s mansion seemed to cower in his booth as Judy squealed into a drift in front of the gate. “Who are you, what are—Judy!”

“I gotta get into the lab, now!” She vaulted over the gate arm and sprinted for the lab entrance. The guard’s pleas and warnings met only deaf ears. Judy threw the door open. Ran down the stairs. “Lucas! Pierce! Anyone!” 

“Judy?” Lucas came out in his lab coat. “Judy, I was just—”

“Where is he!?” she ran past his legs. Looked into the room. Nick was there on the table at about her height. His head thrashed back and forth. His teeth all bared. His claws itched for his restraints, but he couldn’t hope to reach them. “He… oh, I made it…” 

“Judy, I wasn’t going to start without you,” Lucas offered a thin smile. “I know you wanted to be here with him when the treatment began.”

“I...oh, thank you, I…” Now that she was calming down, Judy felt her chest catch aflame. She took a deep breath. Her lungs filled, but it wasn’t enough. She put her handpaws on her knees. “Just… give me a moment.”

“Alright, just take your time.” Lucas padded over to a nearby fridge and took out a long syringe. The glass tube frosted over. 

Judy eyed the syringe nervously. “Lucas, are… are you sure this is going to work? Did you test it out?”

He looked at her. “Judy, this  _ is  _ the test.”

“Is…” she didn’t know how to say this without sounding like a horrible person. “Is it possible to maybe try this on someone else? Someone hardier?”

The wolf looked her in the eye. Judy had the unpleasant feeling of being judged. “After the jackal, Nick is the next largest predator we have. He has the best chance of surviving. These other predators have families too. Their lives don’t mean less just because you’re not attached to them, Judy.”

“I know, I know, I just…” She looked down, shame building on her shoulders. Lucas went quiet for a bit.

“If it does comfort you though, this new formula has a lower concentration of the antidote. “Plus it carries an extra sedative, to help keep his nervous system from becoming overwhelmed. Come on.”

Judy saw Lucas gesture her through the door, his tail low to the ground. Nick spied her, and his emerald eyes spat fire. He clacked his jaws together. Saliva dribbled from his lower lips. The fox’s claws itched to grab her. He snorted in frustration, and let out a mix between a growl and a purr. In the background, a monitor beeped with every pulse

Lucas bent over to feel out a place in Nick’s elbow. The wolf avoided the fox’s snapping jaws, holding the arm in place as best he could. Judy suddenly realized something. “Say, uh… where’s Pierce?”

“Working on a project downtown,” Lucas smirked. “Community organizing, thinks it’ll help.” 

“And you don’t?”

“Judy, there’s a lot wrong with the world today. Neighborhood action committees won’t help anything. This is our best bet of getting rid of Bellwether. Whoa!” In his explanation, Lucas nearly got his fingers snapped by Nick’s fangs. “Got some strong teeth there, huh big guy? There we go, just nice and…”

He leaned down slowly. Suddenly the needle flashed forward. Judy flinched as Nick yelped. 

“There it is. Now, that should work.”

Nick thrashed about a bit on the table, angry at having been jabbed. Bit by bit he slowed though. He shivered in place. His eyes darted side to side, up and down. A strange purring sound came from the back of his throat. His back arched, clearly in pain...

“No… no no! Nick!” Judy leapt on top of the table. His head rocked side to side. Claws screeched against the metal. The incessant “BEP BEP BEP” of the monitor picked up pace.

“Judy, get down from there!” Lucas reached up to grab her but she swatted his handpaws away.

“Nick!”

She cried out, kneeling over his body as he gritted his teeth. BEPBEPBEPBEP Eyes rolling back. BEPBEPBEPBEP Every strand of fur stood on end. BEPBEPBEPBEP He squealed in ecstasy and agony at once. BEPBEPBEPBEP 

“Nick please! You can make it, you can pull through! Come on, fight it! Fight it! Please!”

As he twisted about, Judy felt her face crumple. He was already growing quieter. BEP, BEP, BEP, BEP, the heart rate dropping.

“Please Nick! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she blinked tears from her eyes as they fell on his torn shirt. “If I had just gone alone, you wouldn’t have been darted… if I hadn’t hurt you... “ She closed her eyes and bowed her head as the monitor slowed.

BEP, BEP, BEP, BEP, BEP. BEP. BEP. BEP.

His chest rose and fell slower. Slower. Slow… steady? 

BEP.

Nick struggled for air, but he seemed to be doing better. Judy dared to look up.

BEP.

The fox’s mouth hung open. His green eyes stared blankly around. 

BEP

They rested on her face. He seemed unreadable. He slowly closed his jaws. His brow furrowed.

BEP.

“J...Judy?”

“Oh my god,” her chest cracked a bit inside. “Oh my god, let him out!” She didn’t hear Lucas cautioning her as she undid Nick’s restraints. His handpaws snapped free, and as she undid his feet she could seem him curl his toes. The fox rubbed his wrist as slowly, he turned himself about. His pads touched the floor. 

Then he let himself down. 

Nick grabbed the table for balance as, for the first time in months, he stood on two paws. He looked at his handpaws, still rubbing his wrist. He looked around at the lab. Then he looked at Judy. She could hardly contain herself as he stared down at her. It was like he was seeing a rabbit for the first time. “Nick…” she prompted him.

Then his face crumpled. His mouth writhed into a sob, and his ears flattened as he grabbed her up, lifting her off her feet.

“Judy!” He clutched her tight, paw on her back, head draped over her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, I was a monster!”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” Judy hugged him back, crying into his shoulder with him. She rubbed her fingers over his fur. “You’re okay now… it’s gonna be okay…”

And she really, truly believed it.


	23. Bellwether's Bad Day

Nick shivered under a pale blue blanket, a cup of hot tea in his handpaws. He raised it to his snout and gave it a careful sip. Judy sat across from him in the Canissons’ mansion, and rested a paw on his knee. “Nick, how are you feeling?”

“Better…” he shook his head with a deep breath, his sharp ears flicking back and forth. He coughed a bit and rubbed his throat. “That Night Howler stuff is strong.”

Judy kept her paw where it was, rubbing her thumb over his kneecap. He hadn’t used his voice in four months, no wonder his throat was sore.

“I’m just glad you’re alive…” His ears folded down. “I know I wasn’t in control, but… I still tried to kill you…”

“Hey, like you said, I’m still alive.” Judy looked up into his green eyes, no longer slitted. “Plus, I have some scars to complete my ‘tough cop’ image.” 

Nick snickered, which turned into another cough. He took a stronger drink of his tea. His ears began to raise back up to their proud points. “So, if you got me back, does that mean you got rid of Smellwether?”

“Eh, well, you know, we’re… working on it?” Judy chuckled nervously as Nick’s eyes snapped to her.

“...define ‘working on it’.”

“Well, she kinda forced all the predators into Glacier Falls, is planning on shutting down the ZPD, and she also wants to microchip all predators, which she  _ did _ do with you and some others, so… yeah, we’ve got a ways to go. But!” she perked up here, “now that we know the antidote works, Lucas and his brother are going to start manufacturing it. Then we can cure everyone in Zootopia!”

Nick raised a brow. “And then?”

“And then, Bellwether will be taken out of power?” Saying it out loud though, Judy realized how far from the goal they still were. The euphoria of this step made her forget how much more they had to do.

Nick sat back and crossed one leg over the other. “Trust me, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. You know that administrator who resigned a few years back?”

“Yeah, he was getting kickbacks from the Beavers’ Association?”

“That’s the guy.” His voice struggled to speak from the hoarseness. “Let me tell you, it was a mess. He got backed into a corner, and when that happens people get desperate. Saw a guy get roughed up because he wanted to talk in court. Nearly died.” Nick shook his head. “Bellwether’s the mayor, things are gonna get bad.”

“Well things are gonna get worse unless we stop her!” Judy scooted to the edge of her seat and sat up straight. Her ears reached above Nick’s. “We still need to take her down.”

The fox smirked. “Haven’t lost any of your optimism, huh Carrots?” He downed more of his drink. “Well, if there’s anything I can do, let me know. Could help get some people together, if they’re still around…”

“Get people… that’s it!” Judy jumped up on her seat, excited. “Nick, can you help me organize a parade?”

He blinked. “Okay, let me rephrase my offer—”

“No no, listen, I was talking to a friend of mine, Travis! He said he could help put one together, because the Rage n’ Rave parade was cancelled, and we can have the predators put it on themselves!”

“Slow down, slow down,” Nick gestured. “So, Bellwether cancelled the Rage n’ Rave Parade?”

Judy nodded.

“You want to get the predators to put it on themselves?”

Another nod. “Yeah, it would get their spirits up, plus help people realize the predators are doing good stuff.”

Nick drained the last of his tea, tilting the mug up over his head. He set it down on the endtable with a  _ clunk _ . “Alright, I’m in. But,” he raised one padded finger, “if we do this, we’re gonna play by my rules. That means dealing with people you might not like.”

“Making deals is my forte,” Pierce suddenly walked in. “Sorry to eavesdrop that last bit. Also, Mr. Wilde, welcome back.”

“You the other wolf brother?” The fox shrugged off his blanket, and tried his best to make his raspy voice solid. “The more businessy guy, I hear?”

Pierce shrugged, his smirk making the scar on his eye crinkle. “What can I say, I know how to make money and get things done. Although, Lucas does a lot of the ‘getting stuff done’ part in the lab…”

“Yeah yeah,” Nick waved him off, “how do you feel about working with organized crime?”

The wolf’s smile vanished. “Uh… why do you ask?” 

Judy knew though. She gave Nick a knowing eye as Pierce stammered. They both got little grins. “Pierce, we need you to talk to someone named Mr. Big…”

* * *

 

A day later, Bellwether watched the sunrise again from her office. Her handhooves were folded behind her head, and she drank in the beauty of the fiery skyline. “Oh, it’s such a beautiful day…”

A buzzer broke the quiet. “Mayor Bellwether, Councilmember Pecos is here to see you?”

She swiveled in her chair and hit the button. “Tell him I’m busy right now.”

Quiet again. Then, “Mayor Bellwether, he insists that it’s crucial he see you right now.”

With an exasperated sigh she slammed the button. “I’m. Busy. Tell him to go bother Clive if something is so important.”

The voice came over the speaker, “Mr. Pecos, I’m sorry, but the mayor really cannot be - Sir, please, she can’t see you right now! Sir, sir!”

Bellwether stared at the answering machine. Then she hurriedly turned around, pulled herself up to the desk, and threw open a drawer. The sheep tore a scrap of yellow lined paper out of a notebook, took a pen, and started writing random words on it just as the buffalo burst through the door. 

“Bellwether!” His eyes sparked angrily. “What is the matter with you?!”

“What are you talking about? I’m trying to work,” she looked down and saw that the pen had died; no ink marked the page. With quick hands she slid it off the edge of the desk. “Shouldn’t you be doing the same?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I came up here.” He waved a stack of papers angrily in his hoof. “Mind explaining  _ these  _ to me and the rest of the budget committee?”

Pecos dropped them onto her desk with a heavy slap. The sheep adjusted her glasses to see. “‘Amendments Proposed by Mayoral Office.’ Well yeah, just a few little budget tweaks. It’s normal, especially in times of emergency,” she cocked her eye, “isn’t it, Pecos?”

With a huff he opened the packet and jabbed at a line. “Ten billion dollars for SPEC is  _ not  _ a little tweak, Dawn! We’ve cut enough from other sectors as it is. And where’s the funding for the ZPD!?”

“Oh, that’s something Hoofer had suggested I do. It doesn’t make sense to have two police forces, and SPEC is doing such a good job—”

“The ZPD is in our city’s charter. If you want to remove it, you are going to have to put it to a vote.”

Bellwether chuckled, “Please, I’m the mayor! And we’re in a state of emergency. I’m just doing my best to keep things efficient and safe for everyone. Besides, the people will speak their minds at the polls.”

“At the — Dawn, when was the last time you opened a newspaper? Or even stepped outside this office, really?” 

“I have a speech at Little Rodentia today... “ her brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s going on?”

“...I think I’ll let you find out for yourself. Fix this,” he grabbed one of her pens and laid it down on the bill. “Because if you don’t, and you try to get rid of the ZPD, the council’s next debate will be over whether to remove you from office.”

Bellwether stood up so fast that her chair smacked the glass behind her. “Is that a threat?!”

Pecos didn’t answer as he walked back out, but he did call behind, “Have a good day Dawn.”

* * *

 

“And he just walked out like that!” Bellwether sat in the back of her sedan, with Clive Hoofer in the seat beside her. “Those amendments are to manufacture the rest of the chips. If I call around, I might be able to rally support.”

Hoofer listened quietly, his hooves pressed against his lips. “Our time is starting to run short, Dawn. We need to act quickly to get the council back on your side.”

“I just don’t understand what’s going on! Why are they suddenly turning against me?”

Hoofer eyed her. “Dawn, just how much time  _ do  _ you spend in that office? And do you spend any of that  time reading the news?”

“Of course I do! And, well… I have a lot of papers to sign, things to do, people to meet. I stay in City Hall most of the time when I’m not home.”

The goat did not answer. As they rode in silence, Bellwether saw the road pass by alongside. Glittering storefronts sparkled even through the tinted windows of the sedan. Throngs of mammals walked past, and as they drew close to Little Rodentia she saw the crowds thicken. So many had come out to hear her talk!

“We’ll talk later,” she told Clive as they pulled up to her platform. SPEC officers had already cleared out a space between her and the audience. Spotters and snipers patrolled the nearby rooftops. Bellwether opened her car door and held out both hands in greeting. 

She was welcomed with a chorus of booing. 

The sound nearly scared her back into the car. She gulped and looked back at Clive, who gave her a tilt of his head and a glint in his eye. Bellwether closed her eyes and braced herself as she turned to face the crowd. With slow steps she approached the platform. One of the officers handed her a microphone which she clipped onto her chest before climbing up.

Behind her, the fence contained Little Rodentia. The diminutive denizens gathered to listen. Beyond them, work continued on rebuilding the city from the bobcat’s rampage. Progress had been slow, but steady. With a cough in her throat she tapped the microphone. 

“Good morning, everyone,” she began. “Thank you for coming to remember the live lost here. The wreckage still visible inside Little Rodentia is a memorial not just to the night that terrorized our city, but also a reminder that the enemy we face preys upon even the smallest and most defenseless in our society. My administration has done everything in its power—”

“Like cutting teacher pay!” An angry yell erupted from the side, and a chorus of “Yeah!”s exploded. People began to unfold signs that read “SAVE OUR SCHOOLS”, “FUND RENT CONTROLS”, “PROTECT JOB CENTERS”, and more. Bellwether looked out at a sea of unfriendly faces, as her few supporters in the crowd rounded on the protesters:“Really? We’re here for a memorial and you’re bringing politics into it?”

“Thank you, thank you!” Bellwether gestured at a camel who was scolding someone holding a sign. “We are here to remember the lives lost, and dedicate ourselves to preventing it in the future. SPEC has done so much to help protect our city, and I salute everyone who makes the sacrifice to keep us safe.”

“Then why are the attacks still happening?!” Another voice prompted more yelling.

“Predators are very dangerous!” Bellwether lifted the mic up a bit to amplify her voice even more. “Predators are very dangerous, and we’re doing our best to make the streets safe for you. We are hot on the tail of the Golden Claw, and we will bring them to justice.”

“Where’s the justice for the predators?!” A young group of elephants pressed forward, and began chanting, “Justice for all! Justice for all!” Some joined in, some rolled their eyes, and Bellwether tried to shout them down.

“The Golden Claw is dangerous! We will stop at nothing to bring them in, and control the predatory threat that wants to destroy Zootopia! Now, if we may continue with our remembrance—”

Bellwether struggled with her pocket to pull out her notecards. The momentary lapse proved just the right time for a water bottle to fly at her head. 

The sheep yelped and dodged it just at the right time. A SPEC officer grabbed her arm and pulled her offstage as the crowd erupted again. Bellwether stumbled down the steps and over to her car, Hoofer still sitting there.

“Stupid teenagers,” she huffed. “Nearly killed me out there! Did you see how they were a bunch of elephants? Typical, it’s the big prey that are giving me trouble. Pecos, these kids, they just don’t get what it’s like being a small herbivore! Swear to god they’re gonna drive me mad…” she suddenly saw Hoofer running his hand under his neck to gesture for quiet. “What, what’s the…”

Her heart stopped. She put her hoof over it and felt the microphone still clipped to her blouse. Bellwether looked out the window and saw the crowd staring, mouths agape.

“...oh mutton chops.”


	24. Big Family

Judy sat with Nick in the back of the sleek black coupe; both wore sunglasses and coats, with their ears tucked under wide hats. Their species could now hardly be read. Pierce drove, while Lucas sat in the passenger seat. The car purred up to the barricade, where armed SPEC officers directed them to halt. With a wince of disgust Judy recognized Officer Hagins, the pony.

“ID?” He demanded.

Pierce produced a card from his door’s grip handle; his status as a citizen outside Zootopia was the only thing keeping him from getting locked behind the fence.  The pony narrowed his eyes at the card, then looked back up to the black wolf.

“What are you doing here?”

“Trying to coordinate relief efforts. We’re trucking food in here as much as we can.”

Hagins tilted his head to peer inside the vehicle. “Who are they?”

“My staff. Need their documents? Here, can you open that…” Lucas opened the glove compartment and let a mountain of paperwork avalanche out. “Oh shoot, give us a moment.”

“It’ll be fine,” he huffed. The pony pulled a card from his pocket, punched a hole through it, and hung it up on the car’s mirror. Judy could see that it marked four mammals. “Come out with no more, no less. Got it?”

“Of course, sir. Have a good evening.” Pierce nodded to Hagins, and pulled into Glacier Falls.

There was hardly another car on the road besides theirs. Judy thought she saw a pair of ghostly headlights down one snowy block, but it may have been streetlamps, she couldn’t tell… the dark navy blue seemed to swallow up the buildings, with the lamps as eyes haunting from every angle.

“Just got a text from the butler,” Lucas looked up from his phone. “Other predators are settling in nicely back at the lab. The formula’s working.” He began typing something out. “Gonna order as much of the Night Howler flower as possible.”

Judy nodded in silence, but went back to staring out the window. She couldn’t help feeling nervous. It had been one thing to ask Mr. Big to get information out of Weaselton. Getting all the predators organized together, though? Even the Big family had to have its limits of power.

“This the right place?” Pierce’s voice snapped Judy from her thoughts. She looked out and saw the manor where she and Nick had been dragged to.

“Yeah, that’s the one. There should be a polar bear by the gate?” And sure enough, he lumbered forward, paws clasped across the front of his suit. Behind him though, Judy could make out huddled shapes against the show. Tents and cars lined the whole yard inside the fence. A few predators of different species wandered around among them, and even a cub… that’s when Judy realized that they were all displaced predators, who hadn’t had enough room in an actual apartment.

The polar bear flicked a light on, shining it in the wolves’ faces. Pierce blinked and raised a handpaw as the bear grunted in a heavy drawl, “Why are you here?”

“We wanted to see Mr. Big, if that’s alright with you?” Pierce gave a nervous chuckle. His ears folded back as the polar bear just outside his window towered over the vehicle.

“What for?”

“Just—” Pierce’s voice came out a bit high, so he cleared his throat to try again. “Just business? Very important business.”

“He’s taking no visitors right now. Get out of here.” He flicked the flashlight off, and his pawsteps began to crunch away. Judy immediately cracked open her door.

“Wait a minute!” Her voice halted the bear in his tracks. “What if Judy Hopps wanted to see him?”

He stayed silent. Then he paced over to the gate, grabbed the chain, and began to pull it open. The bear nodded his head to motion them inside.

Judy sat back in her seat and closed her door. She shot a glance at Nick, who tilted his sunglasses down to give her a knowing look. “Well well, look who’s Miss VIP around here. No love for the fox though?”

Judy gave a smile. “There’s the sarcasm I missed so much.”

After they parked the car, a pair of polar bears led them inside. The air inside the manor still nipped at their skin under the fur, but only barely. Soon they found themselves just outside the door. It opened up…

“Judy!” Fru Fru was the first to call out, waving her paw excitedly. In her arms she carried a little bundle. “Look Judy, it’s Auntie Judy!”

Despite the nature of their visit, Judy couldn’t help but grin as she came up to the desk. The tiny shrew in Fru Fru’s arms yawned, showing off smooth gums that had yet to be teethed. “Ohhh, she’s adorable!”

“Aww, thank you,” Fru Fru gently rocked her as another tiny throat cleared on the table. Mr. Big sat there in his swivel chair, smiling warmly and reaching both tiny paws up to Judy.

“My child, it’s been too long,” he croaked out. Judy bent down and air-kissed one cheek, then the other. “What has kept you away?”

“Well, uh…” she looked at Nick, then the wolves. “It’s kind of a long story.”

Mr. Big followed her eyes to Nick, and his already heavy brows creased more. “Nicky, you were savage… how were you cured?”

“Another long story, but neither of us are authors,” He stepped forward and held out his paw. Mr. Big rested his own tiny paw on Nick’s forefinger, which the fox then kissed. “What’s important is that yes, I’m cured. Which means we’re close to defeating Bellwether.”

“Ahh…” Mr. Big leaned on his paw. “How so? And how does the plan involve your two friends here?” He gestured to Lucas and Pierce standing in the back of the room, clearly reluctant to approach.

Judy took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll start from the beginning. You know how Nick and I came to you for help on the Night Howler case?”

Mr. Big nodded.

“Well, it turns out Bellwether was behind the whole thing, and she darted Nick so he would kill me. But when he didn’t kill me, she tried to brainwash me and claimed I supported her, which I really didn’t, so that’s why you saw that in the news. Then I met Lucas and Pierce because they were working with the police chief, and they’ve been working on an antidote. They just  _ perfected _ the antidote, which is why Nick is better. Now we need your help to rally predators to administer the vaccine.”

Mr. Big’s eyebrows had lifted so far up that the whites of his eyes were visible. “Did you say the mayor is behind the savage predators?”

Judy and Nick had to take turns dissecting the whole thing for Mr. Big, while Lucas and Pierce chimed in when appropriate. Bit by bit, the shrew took in the whole thing.

“So, to sum up everything,” Judy clasped her handpaws together, “we need your help to organize people. Can you help us?”

Mr. Big said nothing for a long while, looking away in thought. Finally he turned to face Judy again. “I shall help you distribute the vaccine. But I must ask, what will happen after that? What will you ask my family to do?”

“See, that’s where we’re not sure.” Judy asked. “If we try to expose Bellwether with information, she can just claim it’s a conspiracy. If we try to fight back, people will get hurt.”

Mr. Big nodded. “And what about the Golden Claw?”

“Yeah, ” Nick suddenly broke in. His brows were creased and ears pointed forward. “What about the Golden Claw? You didn’t tell me about them?”

Judy found herself put off by the questions on two fronts. “Uh,” she faced Nick first, “yeah, they’ve been a little more active in Zootopia lately, graffiti and such. But they aren’t a big problem…” she looked at Mr. Big. “Are they?”

Mr. Big shook his head sadly, “I wish I could say ‘no’, but every day I’ve had allies turn me down. My family still has influence, but not as much as we once did. I fear even some close to me are looking to leave for the Golden Claw.”

“Wait a minute,” Lucas came forward. The grey wolf had his fingers pressed to his lips. “Why don’t we work with them then? With the Golden Claw and the Big family working together, I’m sure we can raise enough ruckus to get rid of SPEC altogether!”

“No, we can’t,” Pierce stepped up. His scar curved outward in concern. “It’s the Golden Claw, they won’t want to do anything peacefully. They’ll be more trouble than they’re worth.”

“Pierce, we don’t have a long list of allies right now. I think if we can get mammalpower, we need to take it. We can’t be choosy right now!”

Judy turned and spoke to Lucas. “Your brother’s right, the Golden Claw has a long list of hate crimes attached to it. They’ll get people hurt just for—”

“Please, Judy,” The wolf closed his eyes and held out his paw. “I mean no offense, but this is about predators. We need to choose our own allies.”

Judy’s mouth hung open; she wanted to exclaim that this affected her too, but she didn’t want to escalate things. Instead she put her handpaws behind her back. “Alright then. Want me to wait outside, and you predators can talk things over?”

As judy began walking out, Lucas continued, “No, it’s not like that—Judy, Judy!” Lucas tried to call to her as she walked out the room, but she let the door close behind her. She padded down the hall, eyes closed, trying to clear her head. Working with the Golden Claw? Never. She could never imagine herself doing such a thing. Judy just reached the far end of the hallway when the door behind her opened and closed again. She turned back to see Nick walking towards her.

“Carrots? You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” But even as the words came from her mouth, she knew they sounded unconvincing. “I just… I want to help, you know that.”

“Oh trust me, everyone who talks to you for ten seconds will know that.” Nick smirked. “Look, Lucas didn’t mean anything hurtful by it. I mean, it’s true, you can’t know what it’s like being a predator.”

“This doesn’t just affect predators!” Judy crossed her arms. “If we work with the Golden Claw, that’ll give them power, and they shouldn’t have any.”

“Oh, trust me, I’m with you there.” Nick walked side by side with her towards the door. “Once I had to work a deal with a couple of them? Turns out they were obnoxious teenagers, three bears, wanted me to find them some catnip because they weren’t old enough. Kept saying I wasn’t a ‘real pred’, that I’d gone soft.”

As he finished talking, they both stepped through the main door and into the snow. Judy smirked this time, and wrapped her arm around his back. “If it means anything, you’re a real predator to me. Trust me, I’ve had firsthand experience…”

“Aw, now that’s just hurtful,” he flicked her ear. “Although it’s kind of a compliment, but a backhanded one…” He trailed off when he saw her freeze, the ears straightening up. “Judy?”

“Hold on.” Just beyond the compound walls she heard screaming. Very tiny screams… but close by. “Nick, come with me.”

They dashed to the gate and were allowed outside. Just down the street there was an abandoned shack. She heard three little screams, definitely rodents, as well as shuffling inside. Judy motioned for Nick to be quiet and to follow. They slid down the hill, Judy leaping into a run to get her feet solid on the ground again. Nick followed suit wonderfully. Tracks, feline, leading inside. They followed the tamped down snow to lessen their noise.

A voice finally came out from inside, and the cruel drawl chilled Judy to the bone. “—and I’ll take Pinky, thank you very much.” 

There was a chuckle, and begging: “No, please, we didn’t do anything to you! Don’t do this!”

Judy felt her heart beating within her chest, blood coursing through her veins in the neck. The front door hung open; nobody inside. Slowly she stepped inside. Her feet tested each floorboard as she approached the far wall. A window had been shattered by the opening to the next room. With nimble fingers she picked up a shard and used the reflection to see around the corner. 

It was a cheetah, joined by two tigers. They were all grinning down at their handpaws. With a lurch, Judy realized what they were holding:

“Please!” The mouse in the cheetah’s paws begged on his knees. “I didn’t do anything to you, I didn’t even vote for Bellwether!”

“Oh ho, is that so?” The cheetah suddenly flicked out a claw and held it under the rodent’s throat. “Your actions are truly heroic…”

“No-o-o-o!” The mouse simply broke down sobbing. “I have a family! I need to get back to them, they need me!”

With that the cheetah pinched the tail between two finger pads, and lifted him into the air. “Stop blubbering. You might just make me feel bad for you, and then I go hungry…”

“You can’t do this, you can’t!”

The cheetah raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think  I can? Let’s give it a shot then.” Then he opened his mouth, fangs bared, the mouse dangling above…

There was a flurry of fur on wood, and the cheetah felt a rabbit kick in his face before he could even stand. The rabbit caught the mouse before he could fall, somersaulted, landed back on her feet, and stuffed the mouse in her belt pouch as she turned around with her taser. “Drop the mice!”

The tigers set their mice on the table, but advanced on her. “Well well, it’s Hopps,” one grinned. “The gang’s been wanting to meet you…”

“What do you think?” the other tiger asked. “Take her in, see what she can tell us about the sheep?”

A drawling voice behind them asked, “I dunno if that’s a good idea though…” 

Both tigers turned to see Nick standing there. The distraction was enough for Judy to fire at one tiger’s neck, and jump to take down the other.  With them all rolling on the floor, Judy grabbed the other two mice and bolted out the door. She ran. Remembered the third mouse in her pouch and pulled him out. Held all three close as she ran back to Big’s complex, with Nick in tow.

“Oh, oh my god…” Judy only stopped when the polar bear closed the gate behind them. She held out her shaking arms. The three quivering mice sat on her palms, eyes still wide. “You okay?”

They didn’t responded other than their whimpering growing louder. The cheetah’s mouse seemed worst of all.

“They’re in shock, let’s get them inside. Hey,” Judy tried to comfort them. “It’s alright, you’re all gonna be alright.” At this though, the two other mice wailed as the cheetah’s mouse shook his head. 

“No. We’re not.”

Judy cocked a brow. “Why?”

He looked up at her. “They started with four of us.” 


	25. Vendetta

As Judy and Nick comforted the three mice they’d rescued, over two hundred miles away in Bunnyburrow a SPEC sedan pulled up to a small cottage. The officer inside looked over his paper: Gideon Grey. This was the place. 

The ram got out of the car and approached the door. With one hoofed hand, he pounded on the wood. “Gideon Grey! Open up, you’re under arrest!”

There was silence. With a huff, the ram stepped back. Dragged one foot on the ground. Then he ran into the door, breaking the lock and charging inside. 

“Grey!” 

“Good evening.” The ram froze at the sight of a large rabbit reclining at the kitchen table. He had a flannel shirt and overalls, and his ears stood up straight. The officer’s eyes were drawn first, though, to the shotgun in the rabbit’s lap. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Where’s Gideon Grey? We have a warrant for his arrest.”

“A warrant, huh? Mind if I see it?”

The ram growled and came forward. “Listen, I’m a uniformed officer, and I will not be talked down to by a civvie. The mayor of Zootopia sent a message to your sheriff today that we were coming to pick up Grey.”

“I know,” the rabbit didn’t look at him, instead fiddling with his gun. “That’s why the sheriff sent me here.”

The ram backed away as the rabbit stood up, still holding his shotgun. The look in his eyes boasted defiance. The SPEC officer gritted his teeth. “Tell me where Grey is, or I’ll have you arrested too!”

“And that won't get you any closer to Gideon.” Now the rabbit stood up, proud defiance in his eyes. “You'll have to tear the entire borough apart to find him. Nobody's gonna give him up to you or any of Bellwether’s  _ goons. _ And you can tell that to the mayor herself, right from our sheriff's mouth.”

The ram glared at him, silently fuming. “You're a traitor to your kind,” he finally spat. He pivoted and marched from the house.

* * *

 

“I spoke with the sheriff this morning,” Clive sat at his desk as Bellwether paced in front of him. “He said that he refuses to turn over anyone he believes to be innocent. Especially to..well, he implied you, but I won’t repeat his language here.”

In contrast to Bellwether’s wide open office, Clive worked deep in the heart of city hall. No windows let sunshine into his room, and his walls were finished with a sterile grey. His cork boards were posted with pictures of targets both past and present. Across from his desk, a television showed ZNN on mute. And, pacing between the television and the desk, was Bellwether anxiously nibbling at her hooves. “Ughhh, this is baaaad…” She lightly bit her knuckles. “Okay, we’re gonna need to give a little ground here. If we trim a little bit from SPEC, then we can allocate more to schools and hospitals… maybe get some non-profits to help us—”

“No funding cuts for SPEC.” Clive folded his hooves on his desk. “And you’re missing the more immediate problem. Grey was supposed to be our new leverage over Hopps. If she opens her mouth, a smear campaign will only buy us so much time before the investigations begin.”

“Then let’s just arrest her family!” The sheep seemed frantic at this point. “Let’s just do what we—”

“If we can’t arrest a predator in Bunnyburrow, what makes you think we can arrest some rabbits?”

As they continued to argue, all the way in Tundratown, Vinny the armadillo poked his snout out the front door. The streets were quiet. A spare breeze sifted snow across the sidewalk. With quick steps he descended from his front door and scuttled down the road. 

At the main checkpoint, Hagins talked with his fellow SPEC officers about incredibly important business — which meant gathering around an ancient portable television to pick up reruns of  _ Cash Wheel _ . “Come on!” he hollered at the tiny screen. “God, the answer’s right there in front of you!” Every now and then he glanced up and around, just to make sure that no trouble was unfolding. But it was a Sunday; no predators allowed through. 

In the heart of city hall,  Hoofer continued. “I do think we have someone though: these two.” He opened a folder by his elbow and pulled out a pair of pictures: two wolves, one black and one grey. “Hopps has been with them a lot recently. They own Canisson Pharmaceuticals, and they’ve been running ‘relief missions’ here.” The sarcasm showed exactly how well he believed their story.

“Alright, you take care of that,” Bellwether turned to the TV again. “But look at that! My approval ratings, you didn’t tell me they’d gone so low!”

Hoofer precisely replaced the picture into his folder, not looking up. “A good leader has no need to appease the people. You’ll be vindicated by history.”

“Hoofer!” Bellwether finally got his attention. “This isn’t some poetic drama. This,” she jabbed her finger at the screen, “is politics! And I’m going to be a single-term mayor unless I do something!”

While she ranted, Vinny clutched three papers in his hand. He pattered across the street until the barbed wire stopped him. He couldn’t even peek over the edge, so instead he tried to peer through the coils. Predators went about their Sunday business, on their way to church or to a cousin’s house for an early dinner. He wanted to find one predator in particular though. “Paula!” he called. “Paula, I got more art for you!”

Just down the block, Hagins hunched over the TV set, saw the wheel turn. It was a new word, only a couple of letters. “I’d like to solve the puzzle!” His eyebrows went up; this guy was good! The contestant drew a deep breath — and the screen cut to static.

“Aw, no! No!” He slammed his hoof on top of the television as the others around him dissipated in disappointment. “Serves me right for trusting an antenna set!”

While the drama began to unfold in Glacier Falls, Hoofer looked down at his clasped hooves. “Dawn, you need to keep in mind that you’re not the center of attention here. There’s work that needs to be done, and we need to focus now on finishing that work in what time we have left.”

“Oh don’t you start that with me!” She glared at him, having to readjust her glasses. “You act like you’re some grand hero, some savior. You’re nothing but a municipal employee, Clive! The only people who’ll be reading about you fifty years from now will be bored students and historical society members with nothing better to do with their time!”

Hoofer stared into Bellwether’s eyes. Then he looked down again, opening the drawer in his desk. “Bellwether, I didn’t want to do this for a while yet. But I think I have a solution that will fix both our problems.” 

For a moment the sheep watched him. It felt like a scene in a movie; a cryptic double-meaning line that would be followed by a gunshot. But instead of a gun, Hoofer pulled out a thick folder bound by a rubber band. He pulled out the top sheet, which was a set of blueprints, and unfolded it on the table.

“I call it the Happytown Initiative.”

Meanwhile, Hagins kept slapping the top of the TV set, wriggling the antenna back and forth. Only static. “God… just get back to...”

“Hey,” the pony looked up as his colleague called his attention. “There’s a kid running along the wire over there.”

“From the pred side?”

“...no.”

“Then why should I care?” Finally the screen cleared again. “Hey, it’s working again! It’s…” his smile faded when he realized it wasn’t  _ Cash Wheel.  _ “Get Hoofer on the phone. NOW!”

Hoofer’s attention at the moment, though, was on Bellwether, who approached the goat’s desk in curiosity. “Happytown?” She fingered through the paperwork: a map of the hills just outside the city, applications for permits, and so on. “What is this?”

“The answer that we’re looking for. Permanent peace of mind for our citizens. I’ve taken the liberty of finding contractors who can have Happytown constructed within a week at very little cost. Then, we move all predators there permanently.”

Bellwether didn’t say anything. “Not expensive, you said?”

“Not at all. And, with the predators gone, that’s less stress on our infrastructure. Open up Glacier Falls again, that’s more housing, rents go down. Plus, I’ll even relent and agree to cut down SPEC funding. You’ll balance the budget, and still make Zootopia the great city that we know it can be. You’ll get a second term, Dawn. And a third. And a fourth…”

Suddenly he was interrupted by the phone on his desk. Without asking for pardon he picked it up.

“Hoofer, Head of Savage Predator Emergency Commission?” Bellwether watched him listen. His brow furrowed. “Right now?” He picked his remote and unmuted the television.

“—breaking right now, a local broadcast station has been hacked. Bringing up the live feed now, but we do advise discretion for those at home.”

The image on Clive’s screen copied the one on Hagins’ tiny set, as well as thousands of televisions across the city. It had the poor production quality of a home movie, accented by the fuzziness of an amateur broadcast. However, everyone could make out clearly a fox sitting at a table, a paper in his handpaws. For a second, Bellwether thought it was Wilde, but she realized it was someone else. His features were leaner than normal, his ears seemed to curl above his head like horns, and his amber eyes sparked maliciously. The fox’s fur fluffed out from his v-neck shirt. He was flanked on either side by a cheetah and a bear, both of which had stern faces that seemed to be barely concealing a grin.

“—just joining us, welcome,” The fox’s voice carried a cutting condescension. “And to everyone watching this online, I welcome you too.”

Bellwether turned to Clive. “You set this up, right? This is one of your plots?”

Hoofer didn’t answer. He sat upright, all attention on the screen, as the fox continued:

“I know it’s rude to not introduce myself, but names aren’t important. What matters is that I am what you call a ‘predator’. I know, such a nasty word, isn’t it? A word the soft-hearted and spineless can’t bring themselves to use,” He grinned to show off his teeth. “Well. Here in the Golden Claw, we wear it as a badge of honor. Why should we be ashamed of how we’re born?”

At this point, one of the few mammals who had no idea what was happening was Vinny. The kid could just see Paula’s place, but he had no way inside. He just needed to get his drawings on the other side… suddenly he had an idea! Trying to balance the drawings on one paw, he used the other to write “DELIVER TO PAULA FELIX” on each paper. Then he began to fold, unaware of the fox’s message reaching through his flesh into every living room in the city.

“The world has been blind to Mayor Bellwether and her actions,” he continued. “She has abused predators time and again, showing no regard for us,” he motioned for someone to come over: it was a mother wolf, who held an infant in her arms. Four more cubs of different ages all followed her. “She forces this family into an apartment the size of a broom closet. She condemns women and children to starve, and deprives us of the lives we deserve. And why I ask? Because she’s afraid.”

Hoofer suddenly picked up his phone and began to dial. “Hello? Yes, I’m watching, and I don’t want anyone else watching it. Get it off the air  _ now! _ ”

The fox broke into a grin now as the family was shuffled off-screen. “She is afraid because she knows her true place. We all do. For prey and predator to live as equals has caused strife and confusion. Now Bellwether wants to put prey above predator; as a result, Zootopia has fallen apart. Even her fellow prey hate her for destroying the laws of nature.”

Bellwether felt her face turning pale. She shook her head in horror, and gripped Clive’s desk to keep from collapsing.

“But predators, who shall you turn to? Weak leaders will have you stoop the level of a lowly grazer. They clip your wings, tie chains to your paws, and keep you from your highest potential. They shall force you down to a mindless lemming…”

At this point a burlap bag was tossed onto the table. It squirmed around. With a sadistic grin the fox flicked out his claws and split the sack open. A fat lemming flailed its limbs desperately as he was lifted out by the back of shirt — although he abruptly stopped when a brown claw rested under his throat. 

“We are more than this,” the fox explained, almost in a kind tone. “We can do more than this pathetic excuse for a mammal ever could dream of. So why does he get to rob us of our future _?”  _

He wrapped his fingers around the lemming, making a fist, and began to gently pound that fist on the table as he spoke. 

“The lamb should fear the lion. The deer should fear the cheetah. And the rabbit, should fear the fox…” he let the last words linger. “That’s the way nature intended, and there is no future for predators or prey when we defy nature. The Golden Claw is your only chance for peace in your time, and we embrace all who accept our truth. Even Bellwether…”

He opened his paw again. The lemming stumbled about, dizzy. The fox gently pressed him into the table, his fingers drumming along the poor rodent’s back, the claws eliciting yelps of pain.

“We’ll be seeing you soon, Mayor.” 

The screen cut to static. As Hagins watched from his set, his stomach set into an unpleasant wriggle. “Keep watching,” he holstered his pistol, “I’m going to make sure no one tries anything funny.” As he left the booth, he stepped into the predator territory. “GET BACK FROM THE FENCE!” he hollered, waving people away. “Everyone inside, we’re going on lockdown! Nobody get near the fence!”

That’s when he saw the armadillo down the block. The kid was sending paper airplanes across the border. Messages? Of course they’d bring kids into this! 

“Get away from the fence! Put your paws in the air!” He reached for his holster. 

Vinny looked. Saw the pony with his hoof on his gun. His eyes grew wide. He ran.

“Stop! Hold it right there!” Hagins shouted. He snarled. Stupid animals, didn’t know how to listen… “Stop or I’ll shoot!” 

Vinny kept running. Hagins pulled out his pistol. He’d just aim at the ground in front of the kid, scare him into stopping. 

His aim wasn’t as good as he thought. 

The shot echoed down the street into every household. Predator and prey ducked at the crack in the air as Vinny threw up his arms. Then he crumpled into a heap.

Hagins let out a shaky breath. He stared at the young armadillo. Lowered his pistol. Slowly he stepped over, expecting him to get up, or crawl, or at least stir, please stir!

Doors opened. Curious faces poked out. Hagins knelt down and shook the armadillo’s shoulder. “Kid? Kid, get up, come on. Kid?”

“VINNY!” His mother ran across the street, her face broken in shock. She fell on her knees by the body. “Vinny! Vinny wake up! VINNY!”

“I-I didn’t mean to. I thought he was trying to send something over the wall, and then he started running, and—”

“He’s a kid!” An angry beaver retorted. More and more mammals were coming out of their homes, drawn by the screaming. “What did you think he was doing?!”

“Sending messages, I don’t know! That’s why I wanted to ask him!”

“VINNY!” The mother was hysterical now. She hugged the body. Scarlet stained the snow. The last drawing fell from Vinny’s hand, “SEND TO PAULA FELIX” scrawled across it, scraping across the ground and catching in the barbed wire. Hagins felt his blood chill. The mammals were all around him now.

“Listen, I-I gotta file a report—”

“Saying what?! You shot a kid?” There was an angry outburst. Giraffes, a couple elephants, and buffalo all joined the crowd. Hagins took a step back, then realized what he was doing. He grit his teeth. 

“By the authority of SPEC, I order you to disperse!”

They all pressed in. His heart took a jump. He fumbled for his wallet where his badge had been tucked inside. 

“By authority of the Savage Predator Emergency Commission, disperse at once for your own safety!”

“Savage, says the animal who just shot a child!” 

The larger animals pushed their way to the front. Hagins’ mind clouded over as he dropped his wallet and looked down to unholster his pistol again: his gravest mistake. The pony felt the wind knocked out of him as a trunk grabbed him around the midriff and lifted him off the ground. His pistol clattered to the concrete.

“Put me down! Release me!” His commanding tone began to give more and more into panic as the mob closed in underneath him. Vinny and his mother were the only ones given space. Growls and snarls came from the pack below him; in the distance the shouts of the other SPEC, but shouts of desperation. “Let me go, please!”

A huge buffalo came out of the crowd, tall enough that he could look Hagins in the eye as the pony dangled in the air. His face was grim, but a small smirk still graced his lips. 

“By authority of the citizens of Tundratown,” he mocked the pony, “you’re fired.” 

Then Hagins was dropped into the waiting mob. 


	26. Scars of the Past

“—hospitalization of three SPEC officers earlier today. Two remain in critical condition. Miss Bellwether, how would you respond to these events?”

Judy watched the news story unfold on Mr. Big’s television — which was only about the size of a smartphone. Bellwether paused a few seconds, then answered:

“Well, uh, Buster, I think I really made my position on the matter clear earlier today. The Savage Predator Emergency Commission is here for the safety of all Zootopians, and they can’t do their job without the cooperation of our citizens. And… well, I just want to please urge peace and patience as we do the best we can to keep the streets safe.”

“Hmph,” Nick huffed. Judy looked up to see a thin smile on his muzzle. “Carrots, is it bad that I feel good about seeing her in such an awkward position?”

“Part of me feels like I should say yes,” Judy crossed her arms and cocked her brow, “but that would make me a hypocrite.”

Even on the tiny screen, they could both clearly see Bellwether’s face clashing with the news anchor: he seemed almost annoyed, but still secure and stable. Bellwether, on the other paw, badly needed to fix her wool, and her shoulders were hunched in stress. Her glasses seemed just slightly askew on her snout. 

“Security has been a major promise of your platform,” the reporter continued, “but there are rumors from within City Hall that you’re looking at scrapping the Zootopia Police Department? Is this true?”

She adjusted her glasses, and ended up just tilting them the other way. “I’ve seriously reviewed the law enforcement budget, and my administration feels like it’s better to divert resources away from redundant departments, and with SPEC doing a good job at keeping us safe—”

“—okay, okay, okay,” the anchor tried to interrupt Bellwether, while Nick and Judy snickered at her flagrant lie. “But the ZPD has a record of excellent service, while SPEC has just started a riot today through what I’m sure you’d agree is excessive force. How will you justify to the city council such a drastic change?”

“I-I, look, we’re doing the best we can, and…” 

Bellwether trailed off and looked away from the camera, like she was watching someone else in the room. There was a rustling of fabric on fur, and Judy saw in the frame a black hoof lay a piece of paper on the sheep’s desk - a black hoof that definitely belonged to Hoofer. Bellwether began to read rote from the paper.

“I’ve just gotten word that my office has finalized the plans for a solution to the crisis.” She faced the camera again, her speech getting more natural. “Starting tomorrow, we will begin the final part of the predator relocation.”

At this Judy’s ears stood up straight. She felt Nick stiffen beside her, and they both glanced at each other. 

“We have contracted with a housing company to build a new community beyond Zootopia borders, and the first houses will be arriving in the morning. Within the next few days we will begin the transportation of all predators tomorrow evening, which will both further security and lessen the need for SPEC presence.”

The anchor seemed as taken aback as Judy felt. He responded with another question, but she was already on her feet. 

“Another relocation?” Nick echoed as he followed her towards Big’s office. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Judy shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything about it. That means she either made the decision recently, or I’m being kept out of the loop. Both are bad.” The rabbit threw open the doors. “Mr. Big! We’ve got news!”

The shrew was sitting on his desk, with Pierce on a chair in front of him sipping some coffee. They both looked up as Judy explained what was going on. 

“Huh,” Big squeaked out in thought, “one of my associates had said that the city had approached him to buy his land earlier today. They offered him ten times the value.”

“Just today?” Judy looked to the side, “They’re moving fast, and if they’re overpaying that much…”

“Then they really want it,” Nick finished for her. “I paid attention in history class; whenever the government moves this fast, something’s fishy.”

“I pretty much  _ am  _ the government and I agree with you,” Judy nodded. “I say Nick and I should scope out this ‘Happytown’, and see if we can slow it down.”

Pierce gestured with his cup of coffee in agreement. “I think that’s a good idea. The more we can gum up the works, the less damage that will be done before Bellwether leaves office.”

“Agreed,” Mr. Big chimed in. “Oh, and Judy? Nick? Please stay, we’re bringing a friend of yours to talk about the plans for the parade. 

Suddenly there was shouting outside the door… all eyes turned. “No, no no, please! Please, I didn’t do anything!”

“Travis…” Judy felt her stomach clench. She looked at Mr. Big, whose tiny face was also lined in confusion. 

The door burst open; the coyote came in with a bag over his head, and two polar bears forcing him forward. “Listen,” Travis stammered, “wh-whatever you guys want, I’ll give it to ya! You-you want a car? I have a nice car, you can drive in the car! You can have it, it’s yours!”

“Stop, stop, stop,” Mr. Big waved his paws. Despite his size, the high-pitched voice commanded silence. “What is this? What’s going on here? I told you to bring him to me as a friend! Let him go.”

The polar bears planted Travis on his feet before ripping the bag off his head. His eyes flashed around. “L-Look, Mr. Big, I-I don’t know if I owe you money or something, but I…” he paused. “Judy? What… did they get you too?!” His eyes went wide with horror.

“No, no Travis, it’s not like that at all,” she tried to smile as she approached him, hoping to calm his nerves. “Mr. Big is actually a friend of mine.”

At this the coyote relaxed a bit. “Oh, thank god. Never thought I’d see you working with a crime family…”

“Actually, we’ve been… well, acquaintances for a while now, even before Bellwether took office…” At the coyote’s confused expression, Judy waved it aside, “It’s a long story. But that doesn’t matter right now, what I need to know is if you managed to make any progress on the parade?”

“Well, kinda? I mean, I talked to some families, they said they would be interested, but I don’t know how committed they are. Plus Glacier Falls doesn’t really have much in the way of parade supplies…”

“I will take care of the required resources,” Mr. Big answered. Travis looked down at him with a bizarre mix of gratitude and surprise. “Whatever you need, I can get. How many floats?”

“Well, I—” Travis found himself interrupted as the door flew open. Lucas stood there with a newspaper crumpled in his grey fist. 

“Have you seen the evening paper?” Without waiting for a response he flashed the front page, which announced ‘PEACE ON THE WAY: HAPPYTOWN INITIATIVE’. “They literally just got this rolling today, unless I missed something?”

Judy raised her eyebrows. “Okay, they  _ had  _ to have had those printed before their announcement!”

“Yeah, I know.” Lucas tossed it onto an empty chair and stood behind it, his fingers gripping the top and claws digging into the fabric. “Something is very wrong here. Big, Judy, we need to move now. We need the ZPD, we need your crime family, and,” he cast a glance at Judy, “we need the Golden Claw.” 

Judy shut her eyes, internally cringing at the mention. “Lucas, we are not going to work with them. Nick and I are going to check out Happytown ourselves later tonight, and then we’ll figure out what we need to do. But we are  _ not  _ going to work with the Golden Claw.”

The rabbit looked up at Lucas. He stared back, his jaw set. Judy began to feel the tension thicken in the room, and she felt Nick slide behind her in support. The wolf looked at Big, who only watched patiently. Then he looked at his brother. Pierce couldn’t seem to look in his eye though, and he turned away. Lucas closed his eyes and tilted his snout a bit.

“Judith. You’ve helped us get this far, and I do appreciate that. But I had hoped that you’d still work with us  _ after  _ you got your fox back.”

“Hey, buddy,” Nick took a step towards him, his face cross, “you trying to say something about Judy here? ‘Cause I’m all ears!”

“Nick,” Judy set her paw on his arm to calm him. Then she looked at Lucas. “I still care about predators, I always have—”

“Then you’d understand we don’t have the time to worry about this! What, do you think you’re keeping some kind of moral high ground? Real life is not like that!”

“And you think I don’t know that?” Judy found herself working up, her handpaws clenched. “I’m working with the mob, Lucas! No offense, Mr. Big.”

“None taken,” the shrew commented as Judy continued:

“We’re only, what, a few weeks away from giving away the cure to the Night Howlers? Bogo and I will arrest Bellwether and Hoofer and all the others, SPEC will disband, and the predators will all be cured. We’re getting there Lucas.”

“But we could be getting there  _ faster _ , that’s what I’m saying! They’re not the best allies, but like you said, you’re working with the mob!”

“But I’m not going to work with predator supremacists,” Judy crossed her arms. “We just need to be patient until—”

“Do  _ not, _ ” Lucas suddenly gripped the chair so hard that his claws left holes in the fabric, and his muzzle crinkled into a snarl, “tell me to be  _ patient _ , when it’s not  _ your  _ people getting kicked out of their city!”

Grave silence filled the room. Judy found herself leaning back, one foot set down to retreat if needed. Lucas’ face returned to normal, and as he calmed his eyes turned downward. In the midst of the confrontation, a single handpaw rose into the air.

“Um…” Travis hunched his shoulders, “if I may say something? I kinda side with Judy on this one?”

Lucas looked from the coyote to Judy, then back to his brother. With a huff he released the chair and stormed down the hallway. All eyes watched him leave, except Mr. Big. The shrew merely sat with his snout propped up on one hand.

“I think we all could use a break. Cannoli anyone?”

The polar bears went to fetch the food, and the spell finally broke as movement crept back into the room. Judy felt Nick at her side, but before he could say anything Pierce approached them. “Judy? Nick? Can I have a moment?”

She looked up at him, his face clearly unhappy. “Sure thing, what’s going on?”

“Not here,” he gestured them to the other door, which led down a separate hall. One door off to the side opened into a small guest bedroom, which he led them into. “I wanted to apologize for my brother’s behavior. Lucas can be a bit emotional sometimes… that’s the reason I’m in business and he’s not.”

“Thanks Pierce,” Judy answered in a soft tone. She looked away for a moment. “Look, I’m not… letting you down, am I? I want to help predators, but I just can’t be comfortable working with people like the Golden Claw.”

Nick snorted, “Trust me Carrots, even most  _ predators _ dislike the Golden Claw. Some actively hate how they tarnish the predator image. It’s a pass in my book.”

“And the same for me,” Pierce gave a thin smile. “The thing about Lucas is that he’s convinced there’s a single right answer in everything, the most direct answer. It works in science and mathematics, but sometimes his priorities are mixed up in real life. He just wants to help, though. It’s how Dad raised us.”

“Yeah, he told me,” Judy nodded back. “When he first drove me from your place, he told me about how your dad ran the shipping company, and he wanted you guys to help people. He even showed me the pendants you guys have, with St. Moocent de Paul.”

Pierce thought silently, as Nick elbowed Judy. “ _ I  _ haven’t heard these stories yet, mind letting him talk so I can catch up?”

Judy waved for him to be quiet as Pierce folded his arms. “Did he tell you about how this happened?” He held a claw up to the scar over his eye. 

She shook her head, and a little shiver ran down her shoulders to her hips.

“When we were twelve,” he closed his eyes, “we were going to Linnaeus Heights Prep. It was a  boarding school, so Mom and Dad weren’t with us. It was just a bunch of boys, all different species, and a buffalo headmaster who could only face one direction at a time. That year, some new kids showed up, family of zebras, and they began trying to shove me around, nerd and wolf that I was. Long story short, they got a little too rough one day and threw me against the sidewalk.” Again he traced the scar with one finger. “Lucas was  _ mad _ , and by the time the headmaster got there, the zebras had some marks of their own. He got suspended, but when Dad heard the whole story he pulled us out for good.”

Judy spared a glance at Nick; the fox seemed very tense as the story was recounted. She rubbed his arm gently before speaking up, “I’m so sorry to hear that, Pierce…”

“Eh, it was a story. I mean, I feel like I’m the one who gets bragging rights now, when I can slap my name on medical drugs.” He shook his head sadly. “Honestly, I think it hit Lucas more than it hit me. He’s loyal, and he’s passionate. Unfortunately, those things get him into trouble. He doesn’t always consider that his actions can hurt others...” He nodded gently. “Please don’t think badly of him. No matter what else, he’s still my brother.”

“Alright, I promise,” Judy gave a small smile, and offered her tiny handpaw up for a shake. The wolf accepted it. “Listen, I think it’ll be a good idea if I just leave for now, Nick and I will go take a peek at Happytown, okay?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Pierce came towards the door. “I’ll tell Mr. Big where you are. Stay safe, you two.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a professional at being a fugitive of the law,” Nick shrugged, “I’ll keep her out of trouble. Now about those cannolis…”

 


	27. In the Dead of Night

Judy sat behind the wheel of her cruiser, Nick beside her in the passenger seat. As they made their way southwest out of the city, she glanced at him. 

“Nick. Have a little self-respect.”

He looked up from trying to bite through a cannoli that was clearly made for a mammal bigger than him. The cream cheese filling smeared all over his muzzle. “Hey, when Big was out to kill me, I didn’t get to have these any more.” He wiped his face with his handpaws. “I can’t help it if his grandma made the best cannoli recipe.”

“Glad to hear your priorities are in order,” Judy rolled her eyes as they hit the bridge. The glimmering lights of the waterfront twinkled in the darkness. Right beside them was the historic water hole, the site of the first peace between prey and predator. A huge treatment plant sat atop it now. Floodlights illuminated its face against the dead of night. A modern crown, for the site that had changed the world… “Hey Nick?”

“I’m not eating, I promise!”

“No, not that.” Judy looked down, nibbling her lip. “What  _ are  _ we gonna do when we stop Bellwether?”

She felt Nick glance at her. “Well, we’re gonna need to get a lot of people back into their original homes. There’s the question of jobs, and if people are going to get rehired. Oh, and finding a new mayor, that’ll be fun. Criminal records need to be cleared, public profiles rebuilt…”

Judy groaned and leaned her head on the steering wheel, keeping her eyes open barely enough to watch the road. “Nick, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I need a plan, I need to take care of all this stuff.”

“Hey, you’re just one bunny. You gotta let other people help, you know.”

“Yeah, but some help I  _ don’t  _ want.”

Nick took a slow breath, and nodded. “You’re still upset about Lucas.”

“No, it’s just…” But he was right. Judy felt disgusted that she was even letting this still nag at her. “I need to show him that my plan is good enough without getting the Golden Claw involved.”

The bridge’s end neared, and beyond it stood the wooded hills. A small junction pointed off to the right, westward, and Judy took the turn. Nick looked out the window and rested his head on a paw. Judy looked away, still worried.

“Alright look,” Nick suddenly spoke up again. “The way I see it, you want the hard way out of this.”

Judy felt her eyes bug out. “Nick, not you too!?”

“Hear me out,” he held up his pointer finger. “Yes, you want to do things the hard way. It’ll take a while to get Bellwether and Hoofer out of office, thanks to the legal system and it’s brilliant efficiency,” he raised a brow and gently poked Judy’s arm. “And it’ll take a long time to get people moved back, for everything to settle, for things to get back to normal.”

He nodded for his point to settle, and Judy motioned for him to continue. 

“But, if we just kill Bellwether and Hoofer, and try to shove everything back, well… that’s just a huge mess on its own! Which will take even longer to clean up. So, logically, according to my sly fox brain,” he arched a brow and tapped his forehead, “your plan is better. There, problem solved.”

Judy huffed a small smile. “Thanks, Nick, I just wish Lucas agreed with you.”

“Eh, he’s a smart guy. I’m sure he’ll come around.”

Judy still felt uneasy though. “...there’s something I didn’t tell you about. I wanted to let it go, but it’s just bothering more and more now. The night we saved you, there was a sheep, tied up, and Lucas… he shot her. He  _ killed _ her...”

She could feel the silence as Nick didn’t respond. 

“I’m getting more and more afraid that he’s going to get impatient and do something stupid. I just wish we had the time.”

Nick sighed. “You know, I once heard a very wise man say something for just a moment like this. He said, ‘All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us.’”

Judy blinked, then glanced at him. “Didn’t Jeanwuff the Grey say that?  _ Lord of the Minks _ ?”

Nick gave a mock offense, crossing his arms and staring out the window. “It’s a good story, okay? Very inspirational.”

“Hey, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, you  _ nerd _ .” Judy let out a deep breath. “Okay, you’re right. I just gotta keep at it. Pierce should be able to talk some sense into him, I’m sure.”

The conversation lightened into casual chatting as they drove along the winding road. Mr. Big had explained that his friend’s land was a fair distance from the city, and sure enough, once they drew near, Judy couldn’t even see the glowing skyline of Zootopia. They came around a bend. A SPEC roadblock appeared down the way. “Get in the backseat,” Judy hissed. “Try to squish yourself down on the floor.”

Nick nodded, leaping into the back like a furry dolphin just behind Judy’s seat. He managed to tuck himself into a fairly compact ball, but Judy still gave him a little extra room with her seat. Then she approached the SPEC roadblock.

As soon as she rolled down her window a yak flashed his light in her face. “You’re on state property. Get out of here.”

“Uh, actually,” she chuckled as she pulled out her badge, “I’m a SPEC officer. I wanted to check on the progress here.”

“Yeah, we know who you are,” the yak spat. “So get out of here.”

Judy blinked, but kept her neutral smile plastered on his face. “I’m sorry?”

“We don’t need your help around here. Hoofer wants you back at the city. Now get back there, or I’m gonna tell him you went outside jurisdiction.”

Judy looked into his face, then back at the barricade. Then she sighed. “Alright, I’ll see you back at the station.” She rolled up her window, then reversed for a three point turn. 

As they drove away, Nick clambered back into the front. “Well, that could have gone better. At least you know for sure now Hoofer’s trying to keep you from stuff.” He rolled his arm around in circles, trying to work his shoulder. “So. How are we gonna skirt the law around this, Officer?”

They shared a smirk as Judy brought out her phone. “Get the map open.”

Looking from above, they found a backroad that went up a hill just outside the property. An hour later they had stopped the car, and were hiking up. The sky had begun to shade itself violet, edging pink along the east. Nick sniffed the air. “What’s that smell?”

“What?” Judy took a whiff. “I don’t smell anything?”

“It’s almost like… empty, like after you get your car cleaned?”

Judy turned to look at him. “Nick. That’s the smell of clean air. As in, air without city pollution?”

“Huh,” he glanced around. “I heard of this ‘clean air’, but always thought it a myth.”

“Shhh,” Judy felt her ears stand straight up. A bullhorn in the distance. “Come on!” 

They trudged their way up the hillside until they reached a clearing. An old power line stood here, but the rust along its frame suggested disrepair. Down ahead of them was another clearing. Mammals shuffled back and forth, red vests showing.

“There they are,” Judy muttered. “Nick, you have my binoculars?”

He handed them off, and Judy took a closer look. They had dug out the bases of the incoming homes, long dirt troughs waiting for cement to fill them in. The bulldozers stood nearby for further work. Hordes and hordes of SPEC officers wandered around, idly chatting or patrolling. 

Judy put down the binoculars and dashed ahead into the forest. Nick padded along after her, their paws crinkling the leaves and snapping twigs. Soon they crouched only a quarter mile from the fence, and Judy tried to listen. 

“Got anything?” Nick asked, panting from the renewed speed. 

Judy placed a finger on Nick’s muzzle, quieting him. She listened harder. Then she darted forward past a few trees to listen again. She was just making out some voices…

“...tonight.”

“Really? I wouldn’t...he would risk…”

“He just… over… blame him?”

“Ugh, that sheep… more an… than any help.”

Judy growled softly and got a little closer. She could hear their steps, which almost certainly meant they could hear hers. She paused and listened again. This time she made out the whole conversation:

“—done with this?”

“Eh, there’s a lot of chompers to transport. I mean, we’re ready, we’re gonna start moving them today, so maybe the next few days? God, I can’t believe we’re finally gonna get to…”

They faded away again, but Judy paused. Moving predators in today? Ready? She took another look with her binoculars as she heard Nick come down behind her, panting as quietly as he could. 

“Got anything Carrots?” he gasped. 

“They want to move predators today,” she muttered. “They say they’re ready.”

“Uh-huh.” Nick looked at the clearing. “I think they forgot the ‘town’ in Happytown.”

Suddenly it clicked. Judy felt her heart lurch, her stomach tear in two and threaten to chuck its contents right back up. The binoculars slipped from her fingers. They dashed upon a stone, the glass crackling.

“...those aren’t going to be concrete bases,” she pointed a weak trembling finger at the ditches, the mounds of dirt, the bulldozers perched on top. “They’re graves.”

Judy looked at Nick. Nick looked at Judy. 

They both bolted back up the hill for the cruiser.

* * *

 

At about the time Judy and Nick were pulling up to the SPEC barricade, Lucas sat in the small dismal apartment. He perched on one side of the bed, his thoughts slowly brooding. He watched a couple of small roaches scurry across the floorboards. They emerged from the shadows, feeling their way towards his paws…

The door opened, throwing the hallway light into the room. Lucas watched the roaches flee, and he turned to see Pierce stepping inside.

“Hey, you doing alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lucas lied. He knew Pierce wouldn’t fall for it, and sure enough the black wolf came to sit down beside him. “What did Judy say?”

“She’s just concerned about you.” He rested a paw on Lucas’ shoulder. “She’s concerned about all of us.”

“I know,” Lucas closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I just can’t help but feel that she’s hindering us now that she got Nick back.”

Pierce nodded. “I think I understand, Lucas. She seemed so eager, but now it sounds like she’s telling us to wait?”

“Yeah, exactly!”

“Things are just messy right now, Lucas. Look, we have the vaccine in production. We’re so close.”

He sighed and rested his forehead on his palm. “I’m just afraid that something else will happen to us predators, I want to stay ahead of Bellwether and Hoofer, I…” he put his hand on Pierce’s knee. “I don’t want something to happen to you.”

“Lucas,” Pierce waited for his brother to make eye contact, “nothing bad will happen. And Judy will help make sure of that. As for me, well,” he gave a smirk, “I was in debate club. I can talk my way out of anything.” 

Lucas took a deep breath, and realized his shoulders had been tensed. He consciously relaxed them. “Thanks, I… you’ve always been the more level-headed between us, haven’t you?”

Pierce smirked. “Go get yourself cleaned up. We’ll head to the manor for a nice home-cooked meal.”

Lucas got up and headed into the bathroom. Gosh, he was a mess… his snout needed a trim. He grabbed a pair of grooming scissors and began to clip at the fur around his nose. There, he was starting to feel fresh again. This was just what he needed, get his mind set straight.

There was a knock at the door. “I got it,” Pierce said. Lucas heard him pad to the door and open it.

“Canisson?”

The high voice made Lucas’ blood run cold. There was a silence before he heard his brother answer, “Pierce Canisson. How can I help you gentlemammals?”

“Don’t ‘gentlemammals’ us, chomper. You’re under arrest for conspiracy, obstructing justice, and accessory to assault.”

A deeper voice also sounded now, “We’re taking you down to Zootech for further questioning.”

Pierce immediately replied, “Please, there must be some mistake. I’m not even a citizen of the city, I’m up in the Meadowlands. I’m just here with humanitarian aid.”

“Charity work, huh?” The high voice sneered; Lucas could practically see the mammal creeping around his brother. “Never knew no chomper who had the heart for charity!”

“By all means, please look me up. Pierce Canisson, of Canisson Pharmaceuticals. Honestly a pleasure to meet you both, and I hope this misunderstanding—”

“Shut it,” the deep voice snapped. “Come quietly now.”

“Yeah, come quietly!” 

“Hey!” The deep voice barked at the high one. “Stop poking him like that. Hoofer wants him and his brother alive. Your gun misfires, you’re in trouble.”

“Quit whining!”

Lucas edged further behind the bathroom’s door, his heart pounding. They wanted him too. They were going to cart Pierce away, but they were armed. If he tried to stop them he’d be shot.

“Gentlemammals,” Pierce broke in again, “if I may have a say in this matter, what if we simply arrange a house arrest situation? I need to be present to distribute supplies, after all…”

Lucas could sense the slight edge of fear creeping into his brother’s voice though. They both knew that if Hoofer carted them into his lair, there was little chance of coming out again.

“I said shut it,” the deep voice replied. “Go look for the brother.”

“Not here,” Pierce said as Lucas felt his panic intensify. “But if we wait here I know he’ll come back.”

“Ahhhh, I see…” the high voice drawled. “Gonna have us get ambushed then! We’re too smart for you, dumb chomper!” There was the sound of hard plastic meeting cloth and flesh. Pierce let out an “Oof!” Lucas felt his muscles clench. A sharp inhale sounded from his muzzle.

“Quit it,” the deep voice whispered. “Heard something. And for god’s sake, cut it out!” 

There was the sound of hooves clopping on the floorboards. Lucas drew his arms behind the door and got ready to slam it in the officer’s face. Closer, the shadow of a ram spread across the floor.

A shot tore the air.

“WHAT THE—” 

Lucas felt his eyes go wide. His chest ballooned out as he threw the door aside, paws skidding on the floor. There was the ram turning around, screaming at the jackrabbit who had his pistol out and shouted back something about the chomper reaching for something. Pierce clutching his stomach, the scar on his eye stretched in shock, his legs slowly giving out, toppling over like a proud stone tower crumbling at a fatal blow. The jackrabbit’s sneer had vanished, and as he and the ram saw Lucas, both faces blanched in terror. He flung out his claws and bared his teeth, charging at them with a rage he had never known in his life. The pistol fired. The bullet whizzed past his head and clipped his ear. The pain did not matter. He had only two goals, and they were both five feet before him. They scrambled into the hallway, tried to slam the door, but he shoved it aside, propelling himself so fast he ended up crashing into the outer wall and smashing a hole into it from the impact. The blow left him dazed, and when he shook himself out, they had gone. 

“No…” he looked back inside. Pierce lay on the floor. “No no no, Pierce, no!”

The black wolf lay there, his eyes frantically jumping around. “Lucas, it’s… it’s alright, it’s okay…” The crimson bleeding across the floor suggested otherwise. 

“No no,” Lucas tried not to see it, “yeah, you, you’re gonna be okay! I’ll call an ambulance!” He scrambled for his phone, but Pierce grabbed his arm.

“We’re in Zootopia,” he muttered grimly. “Glacier Falls doesn’t have a hospital. It’s… it’s already...”

Lucas couldn’t find the words. No words could succeed at probing the depths of the tragedy that gripped his heart. No language could hope to describe his soul getting ripped from him, a life torn asunder. Tears streamed down his grey fur, his body shaking, a choked sob struggling to escape his lungs.

“I’m sorry, brother,” Pierce rested his paw on Lucas’. “I… could—” he shuddered, “couldn’t talk my way out of…”

His grip loosened, the words dying in his mouth. The eyes relaxed. Lucas shouted his name. Shouted again. Shook him by the shoulders. The room went blurry, and he knelt there for what seemed hours. The roaches began to scurry in again, curious and feeling, and this time they didn’t leave when another visitor came in.

“You Canisson?” 

Lucas turned around with a snarl, but it wasn’t SPEC. It was a cheetah leaning in the doorframe.

“Couldn’t help but hear your problem…”


	28. The Claw Ascendant

Judy scrambled back into the cruiser. Nick hadn’t even closed his door before the tires squealed. “Get on my phone!” she barked, her handpaws glued to the wheel and her eyes to the road. “Call the Chief, put me on speaker!”

From the corner of her eye she could see Nick scrabbling over the touchscreen. The sound of electronic ringing filled the car. Then a click. “Yes?”

“Bogo, go to City hall right now, and place Hoofer and Bellwether under arrest!”

He paused. “What’s going on?”

“I scoped out Happytown. It’s not a neighborhood, they are going to  _ murder  _ every predator in the city! Take the entire ZPD if you need, and arrest Bellwether and Hoofer! Put up roadblocks, and shut down the railway. No no, physically barricade the rails! No one leaves Zootopia!”

“...Hopps, you better be absolutely positive about this—”

“I swear to God, if you do not believe me, people are going to die!”

Another pause...“Alright,” then his voice suddenly sounded far away, “All officers! Code Ninety-Nine, Code Ninety—” A click as he hung up the phone.

“That’s state of emergency,” Judy breathed. “Thank God he’s taking this seriously. Okay, now call Mr. Big.”

Again the ringtone. Then a squeaky voice, “Judy, my child, what did you—”

“They’re gonna kill everyone,” she repeated. “I need you to make sure no predators leave Glacier Falls! Tell Travis to rally people together. Tell Pierce and Lucas I’m gonna meet them at their apartment. And whatever you do, do not let ANYONE leave, or SPEC is going to kill them! ”

She could practically hear his eyebrows raising up to reveal his eyes. “I… I will do so. Thank you.” Then another click.

Nick put her phone back into the cupholder. Then he let out a sigh. “You know those really boring parts of history class, where they skim over forty or fifty years because nothing really big happens?”

“Yeah?”

Nick shook his head, looking out the window. “I wish I lived in one of those times,” he pined.

Compared with their warm exchange leaving the city, the car felt tense and close as they returned. At least it did for Judy; it may have just been her rising pulse, her eyes glued to the road and blissfully unaware of the climbing speedometer. She merged onto the main highway, and got a horn blared at her. In response she turned on her sirens, and rocketed towards town.

As they passed over the bridge, she saw cruisers pulling up on the other side, turning their cars to block traffic. Judy’s heart hammered still as she blared up through the city center, past City Hall — ZPD surrounding the building — and bypassed Sahara Square entirely as she veered right for Tundratown.

In fact, she didn’t say another word until she got to Glacier Falls. She pulled up to the main gate, and a SPEC officer came up to the vehicle. “Hopps, Hoofer said he wanted to—”

“Shut it. You’re under arrest.”

The ram’s brow rose. “Hold on, you don’t have the right to—”

Judy grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down to look him in the eye, over-articulating every word in a low voice: “I have read the entire manual, front-to-back, three times over. You do  _ not  _ wanna argue me on what I can and cannot do.”

He nodded breathlessly. “O-o-okay…” He didn’t resist as Judy cuffed and left him in the booth. Then she motioned for Nick to follow.

“Lucas! Pierce!” Judy dashed through the streets, yelling out at as she neared their place. “Lucas! Pierce!” She hurtled into the lobby, up the stairs. Their door was open. “Guys, did Big tell—”

Her stomach flipped.

A great bloodstain had smeared across the floor; from the darkened color, Judy could tell it had formed several hours ago. Looking again at the front door, she saw the splintered jamb, and a hole in the wall in the hallway. The glass in the kitchenette had shattered from a gunshot. 

“Oh geez,” Nick looked around with his ears flattened. “Did SPEC arrest them?”

“I’m not sure,” Judy knelt at the edge of the stain, her stomach churning. She pressed her wrist to her nose to stifle the smell. Through her squinted eyes, she caught a shape in the tile. “Hey, look…” 

A paw had printed the floor in dark crimson. Nick peered at it, his brow raising. “That’s not a wolf print…”

“Just what I was thinking. In fact, I think it looks like…”

“...a cheetah?” 

“Mhm,” Judy nodded, her face turning stony. “And I’m willing to bet it’s a cheetah we’re familiar with.” She looked at Nick. “They came for Lucas and Pierce. We have to go, now.”

Nick bit his lip. “I think I’d rather deal with SPEC…”

* * *

 

Judy and Nick stepped up to the same old dilapidated shack from the other night. The morning light made it feel alive, but instead of a comfortable organic sensation, it was a breathing threat. Judy heard hushed voices inside, excited whispers, papers rustling and heavy thudding. 

“Nick,” she whispered as softly under her breath as possible. “They are in the back room. Front room should be empty.”

He gave her a thumbs up as she stepped onto the porch. One handpaw pulled the pistol from her belt, the other paw turned the doorknob and opened the door. 

Judy was wrong. The front room had a body lying on the table. It was covered with a white tarp, with red stains in the middle. It also had a lupine shape.

‘Oh my god,’ Judy just barely kept the words from escaping her mouth. She turned instead to the next door, where she stepped closer. Unfamiliar voices...

“—into the plant, should be easy enough.” 

“Yeah, once the truck gets here… when is it due again?”

“Any minute,” Judy’s heart leapt at the voice, “driver said they were fifteen minutes out...”

She burst open the door and pointed her pistol around, even though her eyes snapped first to the wolf. “Lucas, what are you doing here?!”

Judy recognized the cheetah and two tigers. She also recognized the fox, far fluffier than Nick, and with his mouse still in one handpaw, his thumb stroking it even as Judy jumped into the room. And yes, there was Lucas, looking like a teenager who’d been caught out after hours: petulant, yet still defiant.

“Hopps,” the cheetah paced over. Judy pointed her gun up at him, even though she only came up to his knee. “You’re turning into a regular party crasher.”

“Shut it.” She turned her head and saw Nick coming in behind her, wielding a slab of rotten wood he’d picked up. “Lucas,” Judy locked eyes with the wolf, “on the table… is that—”

“Pierce Cannisson?” The fox spoke up, coming forward. He spoke with a drawl that made him sound both educated and incredibly condescending. He kept his head upright and still as he walked, and the mouse in his paw quivered. “Yes, that’s Pierce outside. We would give him a proper burial,” his amber eyes glinted, “but  _ your kind  _ have denied us access to a graveyard.”

Judy gave the fox an ugly side glance before looking up at Pierce again. “What happened when I was gone? What happened to Pierce?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Again the fox interrupted before Lucas could respond. “Here I thought you were part of SPEC! If you’re a double agent like you claim to be, you would have known that they were coming to arrest them. Why didn’t you tell us Judy?”

“I said ‘shut it!’” Judy barked at the fox, shoving her gun in his face. His smirk set her off-kilter though, in combination with his comment. “How did you know I was a double agent?”

“Oh, Lucas told us,” the fox slowly padded over and gave Lucas a comforting stroke along his arm. “He told us all about how you didn’t want to help predators, how you wanted to wait when you got your little lovebug back,” he smirked at Nick. “He told us so many things… like how a special little plant is being used.”

“Then you know about the Night Howlers!” Judy tried to take charge of the conversation again. The predators around her seemed to be drawing closer. “Look, Lucas is close to getting a cure! If we can stop Bellwether’s plan—”

“We?!”

The fox threw back his head and laughed, revealing that three of his fangs had been replaced with brass. The others joined him: bears, cats, canids, weasels, with laughs ranging from genuine to weak chuckles that got forced into fake laughs. His little mouse pet cringed at the cacophony of malicious laughter.

“Now,” the fox chuckled, “you talk about a ‘we’? Oh no,” he shook his head, “no no no, Lucas told us all exactly how you feel about us. And may I just say the feeling is mutual. No prey allowed. Kind of our point here.”

Judy fumed, and racked her brain. “Okay, listen: Bellwether is getting arrested. Hoofer is getting arrested. It’s a lot faster than I wanted to move, but this whole nightmare is gonna end. Justice will be served.”

The fox huffed, his smirk only strengthening. “Trust a rabbit, holding a gun to a fox’s chest, to speak about justice… oh no, a new mayor isn’t going to fix anything, and you’re an idiot to think it would. We have matters in our own paws.”

He began to walk around to the far side of the room, lecturing like a professor to a student. That’s when Judy finally opened her tunnel vision and really saw the layout of the whole place. A desk sat covered in papers, and a map of the city hung on the wall. Marker lines and scribbles scrawled across the surface, with sticky notes decorating it. 

“Lucas called in a special order for us this morning. The supply of  _ Midnicampum holicithias,  _ that he was using for the antidote? Should be delivered here any minute now, isn’t that right?”

Lucas nodded. Judy felt her spine prickle. She had a bad feeling about where this was going…

“You want to know the greatest mistake in mammalian history?” The fox asked with half-lidded eyes. “It was predators ever accepting prey as equals. Ever treating them as equals. About as preposterous as giving constitutional protections to plants. For centuries philosophers bent over backwards to explain their reasoning: why are predator and prey equal? The simplest answer was correct all along: we  _ aren’t _ .”

He turned around in front of the map, eyes glinting at Judy as he seemed to swell:

“This is what the Golden Claw believes and what it fights for: the truth that peace with prey can never be achieved. That predators deserve to take the station that nature intended! That to turn our backs on our gifts is to deny our very being!”

Then he swept out his arm, pointing up at the map.

“Today we will go to the historic watering hole, to make history again. We will poison the city’s water supply with the  _ Midnicampum holicithias  _ toxin. We will cut off Glacier Falls, then watch as every prey mammal tears their precious city apart. And those that survive, mindless hordes, mindless flocks… just the resources needed to help predators build the world they deserve.”

Nick finally spoke up with a very slow, “What the fu—”

“Forget it!” Judy snapped back, her pistol shivering in her grip. “That’s… that’s crazy talk! You couldn’t possibly have enough to poison the entire city!”

“Oh, but Lucas has assured us,” he held out a hand, making the wolf stiffen, “that there will be  _ plenty.  _ In fact, with the diluted compound, it’ll make the prey less violent. All the better to harness and to catch, wouldn’t you say?”

Her voice shook as she tried again to address Lucas. “Lucas, please, you cannot actually believe in this…”

This time the fox didn’t butt in. He leaned back and looked up at the wolf. Lucas glanced from the leader to Judy, to Nick, to the cheetah, then off in the corner. He clasped his hands behind his back. “Judy… I’m sorry, but predators will just keep getting hurt by prey. I can’t support a system where we keep getting shoved down like this…”

“Don’t feel bad Lucas,” the fox now cut off Judy. “So many predators think they can coexist with prey. It’s a tragedy most of them never wake from their delusion. But at the Golden Claw, we’re nothing if not understanding and compassionate and patient.”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Nick stepped forward in front of Judy. “Buddy, I’m a professional con man, so I know when I see one. So let me ask you, what’s going to happen in this new world of yours? Who’s going to be in charge?”

“Predators,” he answered with a smile.

“Yeah, but who among the predators? There gonna be a king, a chief…?”

“All predators will rule together,” he assured Nick. “Of course, we in the Golden Claw will help to guide everyone towards that ideal—”

“And there,” Nick pointed his finger, “is your fine print. Your terms and conditions. Lucas, I throw my lot behind Judy’s ‘crazy talk’ theory. If you’re as smart as you claim, you’ll do the same thing. Oh, and by the way,” he glared at the leader, “I am  _ not  _ Judy’s lovebug.”

“Hm, yes, Lucas, please decide,” the fox took his mouse in his grasp and began to wave it around. “The rabbit who stood by while predators were murdered, or the mammals who are going to do something about it?” 

The wolf glanced back and forth. He could send the trucks away when they came, Judy knew. He could explain it as a mistake. They could salvage the situation, he just needed to make the right call— 

“And,” the fox spoke up again, “if I may sweeten the deal… why don’t we stop by City Hall on our way to the plant? You won’t have to worry about broken promises, if you get to see Bellwether and Hoofer destroyed right in front of you. Surely Pierce would want you to—”

“Don’t speak for my brother,” Lucas snapped. The fox bowed away apologetically as the wolf seemed to visibly struggle. He lifted his paw to his muzzle, and nibbled on a finger. 

Bit by bit, he began to step towards Judy and Nick.

The cheetah stood up, offended. “Hey, Lucas, what do you—” The fox lifted his handpaw though, silencing him. 

Lucas looked down at the rabbit. “Judy… I…”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Lucas, thank God, I thought—”

“Get out of here.”

Her blood froze. “What?”

“Please. You… you got us this far. I don’t want you to get hurt. Get out of Zootopia, save yourself, save your family.” He closed his eyes. “Please take this as my ‘thank you’ for what you did do for me.”

“Save myself?” Judy grabbed his leg to keep him from walking away. “Lucas, you think they’re gonna stop with Zootopia? You help them get this foothold, they’re going to move on. They will come to Bunnyburrow. There will be no safe place.”

Lucas glared down at her before turning away. He shook his leg, releasing her grip on his pants leg.

“Thank you, Lucas,” the fox grinned. “I knew that you were smart, unlike a certain fox,” he glared at Nick.

Suddenly Judy let out a ferocious scream. She pulled out her pistol as she stalked towards the fox. “Get down on the ground  _ now!” _

The fox considered it for a moment. “Nah, don’t feel like it.”

“I will  _ shoot you _ , I swear!”

“Oh, please. Please shoot me.” The fox strolled towards her, like she was flirting with him instead of brandishing a firearm. “Heck, let me help you, poor little bunbuns must have twouble with the big scawy guns…” 

He leaned down and put the barrel right on the front of his sloped forehead. Judy watched in horror as his amber eyes sparked, bordering on madness. 

“Go ahead. Do it. Blow my brains out, show us how the city’s finest police officer treats people! Show us your moral superiority! Show us how much better you are than Bellwether! Go on, we’re all waiting! Do it!” 

Judy felt her fingers tremble on her gun. She closed her eyes… and lowered the weapon.

The fox put on a smug pout, and crossed his arms as he shook his head. “Weak…” he growled. 

A truck’s horn sounded far in the distance. 

“I believe that’s our delivery,” the fox pointed as he straightened up again. “Lucas, if you could take care of that? I’ll wrap things up here…”

He snapped his fingers. The cheetah and tigers suddenly came forward. Judy tried to jump back, and managed to deliver a blow to the cheetah’s face. As she tried to bounce at the others though, she felt a huge paw grab her torso. She writhed and bit at the nearest patch of fur. With a yell she got released, but only for another predator to pick her up. Judy yelled and squirmed.

A blow to the head.

Her eyes went wide. Everything seemed to slow, then fade, then silence.


	29. City Hall Shattered

Every news station, every curious citizen, had flocked to City Hall for the standoff that would define the decade. SPEC officers barred the door with their riot shields. ZPD officers struggled to break through their lines, but to no avail. Even the largest couldn’t get through. There were cheers and boos all around as Bogo raised his bullhorn again: “Clive Hoofer! Dawn Bellwether! This has gone on long enough. Surrender yourself immediately!”

Hoofer watched the whole thing inside the security office, cameras pointed at the crowd and at Bogo. Bellwether trembled by his side as he lazily punched the PA button. “Neither I nor Bellwether will give in to your illegal demands. You’re in contempt of our authority, and if you attempt to breach the building SPEC will open fire upon your department. Stand down at once.” He could hear his voice echoing through the security footage.

“Oh, this is it…” Bellwether quivered. “No no no no no, it can’t end like this, it  _ can’t  _ end like this. Why are they even coming after us all of a sudden?” 

Hoofer sighed through his teeth. He knew exactly what had happened… he picked up his radio. “All SPEC units, commence the Happytown initiative. Transport all predators at once. Do you copy? Over.”

“Omega Team is a go,” he heard one response. 

“Sahara Square team, ready to support.”

“Rainforest District, ready to support.”

Silence.

Hoofer held up his radio again. “Tundratown team, do you copy? Over.”

Nothing. 

“Glacier Falls checkpoint, do you copy?” he asked in a much louder voice. 

Nothing.

“Glacier Falls, I said do you…”

Hoofer trailed off. He could see on the security screens, two massive trucks coming up to City Hall. One was a big rig, labeled “Canisson Industries”. The other was a tanker truck, similarly labeled. The ZPD and SPEC both quieted as the two vehicles pulled around, encircling the crowd.

“Citizens of Zootopia!”

The crowd murmured as the voice echoed around the plaza. A fox slowly clambered atop the truck, a megaphone of his own in paw. 

“What the…” Hoofer shouted into his radio again. “Glacier Falls team, come in! A predator has escaped the perimeter! What are you doing down there!?”

Bogo, meanwhile, stood in silence watching the fox speak. He knew that face, and the murmurs in the crowd suggested everyone else remembered him too. The fox simply grinned as he continued:

“You know, it’s really a confusing time in Zootopia right now, isn’t it? What, with predators going savage at every turn? And now your mayor seems to be punishing you as well as us, the mean ol’ preds.” The sarcasm dripped from every word as he play-acted atop the truck. “But just think, she’s helped solve the predator crisis, hasn’t she? Isn’t that just so convenient, that she was around right when the predators decided to turn bad? Isn’t it just lucky for her that she had the right solution at the right time?”

“Bellwether,” Hoofer stated with absolutely no tone in his voice, his eyes glued to the screen. “Go to my office. Burn every document I have. Go to your office and do the same.”

“I...ah-”

“NOW!” He turned and roared at her, driving her from the security office. He stood up and began to back out of the security office, calling out, “All units, abort Happytown, converge at City Hall, I repeat—”

The fox kept going, sitting down and crossing his legs casually. “Ladies and gentlemammals, have I got a bombshell for you. In this tanker, right here, is an extract of  _ Midnicampum holicithias,  _ a delightful substance that drives anyone exposed to it utterly mad. They become violent, dare I even say,  _ savage… _ and Bellwether herself knows just how savage this stuff makes people.”

The realization began to settle in on the crowd, and there were uncertain murmurs and whispers. As the people processed this, they didn’t notice the other predators scuffling around behind the tankard, dragging along hoses pilfered from gas stations and firehouses. No one noticed, except Bogo’s eagle eyes. “All units, prepare for riot control,” he muttered into his radio, “and someone neutralize this fox, now!”

Higgins drew out his gun, but the fox’s sharp eyes spotted him. “Ladies and gentlemammals!” the fox leapt up and behind the truck as shots went off. The crowd turned to see the hippo firing - just the distraction he needed. “Let’s get savage, shall we!?” 

There was a  _ WHOOSH  _ of water flooding all of a sudden.  The crowd turned again to see powerful jets of blue splashing into them. Predators in full body armor stalked around the edge of the truck. They held the nozzles steady. 

“Don’t let the toxin hit you!” Bogo hollered. 

His voice barely carried three feet because of the screams. The buffalo plucked a couple of beavers from what would have been their deaths in the stampede. SPEC kept holding their line at City Hall, only concerned with protecting Hoofer’s stronghold. Through their shields Bogo could see the fear in their eyes. He turned back to the crowd. Two moose, some wildebeests, a hare, a pair of pigs, were on the ground moaning, rolling around. Their voices were already rough, choppy, movements spastic. News cameras shattered on the ground, reporters trying to get away before the hose turned on them too—

“Get out of here!” Bogo tried to shepherd everyone away, “All officers, open fire!”

The order was redundant; anyone still coherent had taken shots at the truck. One managed to shoot through a predator’s armor, and they stumbled. The hose clattered from their handpaws.

That’s when the big rig opened up.

More predators, all wielding assault weapons, poured out to hoots and hurrahs. The gunfire erupted against the ZPD. One predator took up the hose again, advanced towards the entrance to City Hall. SPEC’s shields couldn’t protect them from the toxins.

Bogo tried to press off to the side with what remained of the ZPD. Amid the screams were snarls, roars, prey beginning to rise up on all fours and turn with cruel eyes at their fellow mammals, snapping and snarling, and in their dumbness they couldn’t see the Golden Claw leveling weapons against their heads, lining up all the easy shots...

“Fall back, form a perimeter!” Bogo yelled. “FALL BACK!”

* * *

 

Minutes later, the gunfire had been silenced. Lucas followed the fox as they stepped around the puddle of Night Howler toxin, over the bodies of SPEC officers, and through the glass doors of the City Hall lobby. In the dead center was the front desk, with two hallways on either side delving deep into the building and a pair of staircases curving up to the second floor. The secretary had long since fled into the heart of City Hall, and the sleek modern room now appeared empty. 

“This is nice,” the fox nodded as his eyes darted around. “Very nice lobby.” He snapped his fingers at the predators behind them, and motioned them forward. Without a word they advanced down the hallways and up the stairs, guns drawn. Meanwhile, the leader walked behind the desk, rapping his knuckles on the desk. “How’s it feel, Lucas? This is ours now, all this.”

The wolf kept his face grim, eyes darting up like he wanted to peer through the ceiling. “I just want Hoofer and Bellwether to get their comeuppance.”

“They will,” the fox grinned. He eyed an intercom receiver marked ‘Mayor’s Office’, and hit it. “Hey there Lamby-Lamb, don’t you go anywhere, we’ll be right up!”

“Hey Boss!” A voice called from down the hall. “We found something over here.”

Both the fox and Lucas turned to see the cheetah come around the corner, a big grin on his face and a big gun in his hand. It wasn’t just a rifle though, the barrel was far too wide. The cheetah also held out a paw filled with small blue globes.

“Looks like we got Hoofer’s toys,” the fox wondered aloud. He took the gun in his paw and held it up, eyeing it with hunger. “Oh, we gotta go huntin’ with these, tell everyone to grab one.”

“Hold on,” from the staircase above, a bear poked his head out. “I think we got something even better down here…” He motioned for them to follow. Yells and shouts could be heard, and a very familiar voice...

Lucas outran the fox this time, bolting up the steps two at a time. The staircases met on a balcony, which connected to a single hallway that ran right down to oversee the council chamber. The wolf turned down the hallway. And there  _ he  _ was, lifted off the ground by two tigers. 

“Get your paws off of me!” Hoofer looked at his captors, his eyes darting from one cat to the other. “Listen, if you let me go, I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll imprison your enemies, I’ll make you rich, I’ll get you seated in the halls of power!” 

“Where do you think we are now?” The tigers chuckled as the goat squirmed in their grasp, trying to break free. “Gotta do better than that…”

“We can all be reasonable mammals here. I must have something you want!”

“Try this, Hoofer,” Lucas snapped. “Give me back my brother.”

The goat looked up at his name, and saw Lucas standing in front of him. “Mr. Canisson…” he set his jaw, “I would have thought you were above this.”

“Every mammal has a breaking point,” the wolf retorted with a snarl. Suddenly he grabbed the lapels on Hoofer’s jacket and tore him out of the tigers’ grasp, sneering down into the goat’s face. The eyes darted around, and Lucas relished the fear visible in them. “I think we’re gonna find your breaking point tonight.”

“Enjoying yourself?” Lucas turned to see the fox strolling their way, the Night Howler rifle in one paw and pointed at the ceiling. “The Golden Claw delivers, Lucas, it’s what I’ve been saying. Mind bringing him over this way?”

Lucas didn’t look back at Hoofer as he dragged the goat behind him, despite his best struggles. Together they approached the far balcony, which opened into the council chamber. It was a magnificent room; the decor must have been from a century or two ago, contrasting with the sleek modern exterior. It bled with history. And at the moment, thirty council members were trying to barricade the door with their chairs. 

“Oh dear,” the fox called out, prompting them all to look up in fear. “You blocked off the doors, there’s no way we can get you now.”

“I-If you’re mad about the relocation,” one of the rams down below called up, “we’re gonna fix it right now! We have the paperwork all drafted up, you can add anything you want to it!”

“Hm,” the fox leaned against the banister and pretended to think. “You know, if you really cared about this kind of stuff, then maybe you wouldn’t have relocated us in the first place.” With a shrug he raised the rifle and aimed, all the members took cover…

...but then he lowered it. Lucas watched the fox slowly turn around, the eyes glinting hungrily. “You,” he gestured to a brown bear that had followed him up. “Come here, how’d you like to have a little bit of fun?”

The bear said nothing; a grin on his face and a crack of his knuckles said it all. He was just about to jump down when the fox stopped him. 

“Uh uh. They’re so afraid of ‘savage predators’, it’d be a shame if they were liars…” He held out a dose of Night Howler serum. The bear looked at him.

“Boss, I wanna enjoy this.”

The fox shrugged. “Fair enough, fair enough…” With that the bear went over the edge. The whole building seemed to tremble as the bear hit the floor. There were screams from the prey as he advanced, chuckling.

The fox sighted down the rifle’s barrel, and fired.

Lucas opened his mouth to object before he caught himself. He heard the PAP as the pellet hit the bear right on his neck. The bear stumbled, yelling out in shock, as he felt the sting. His confused and painful groans began to turn into rolling growls. Councilmembers tore the chairs away from the doors and tried to yank them open, only to find them held shut by predators on the other side. The bear eyed them, took a step forward…

Lucas watched the bloody scene unfold. His jaw hung open. He’d never seen anything like it. No history book could have prepared him for predatory action actually unfolding before him. He’d always pictured it as a noble feat: a pounce, then the animal was downed and the meal ensued quietly from there. But this? He winced at every blow, could practically feel the claws tearing into  _ himself.  _ He had never heard a sound like this before. No horror movie could ever produce something so appalling.

“First time’s always a doozy,” the fox watched comfortably, the rifle tilted against his shoulder. He smirked up at the wolf. “Don’t worry, that’s just the social conditioning getting out of your system. Here, let’s help it along.” He pointed at Hoofer. “Throw the last guy in there.”

Hoofer grabbed at Lucas’ arm. “No, please! Please, have mercy!”

“Yes,” the fox smirked, “show him the same mercy he’s shown to us, to  _ you _ .”

Lucas looked down at Hoofer. He saw in Hoofer’s eyes predators driven mad, children brutalized, students lighting themselves to burn in protest… he pulled back his lips and showed his teeth as he roughly dragged the goat up and slammed him against the balcony railing.

“Please!” He begged again, holding his hooves in the air, “Please don’t let me die!”

The bear looked up, his jaws stained. He reared up, roaring for the fresh meat. Lucas felt his chest rise and fall, his own handpaws trembling. 

He gave a shove.

Hoofer screamed, tried to swipe at the empty air. He tilted backwards, the world turning upside down. He saw the council chamber one last time. He saw the carpet, littered with carnage. He saw the waiting jaws and outstretched claws. Saw the paw swipe across—

Lucas couldn’t help but flinch as Hoofer was torn apart before his eyes.

* * *

 

Judy woke up just in time to see the predators leave, casting hungry glances at her, but heeding Lucas’ words. She rolled her head, trying to scrunch her face in concentration. Sleep. So badly she wanted just to pass out, that sweet oblivion...

No, no no, stay focused. Feel the chair. Feel the ropes on her arms. Hear the sound of voices and cackles outside, the sound of trucks pulling away. Stay in reality, stay awake. Stay awake. 

Judy pried her eyelids open. It may have been a minute, it may have been an hour. The room was now empty, save for herself. Turning her head she could also see Nick at her back, his head slumped forward. Right away she tried to wriggle at her bonds. No use; if only she’d been awake when they’d tied her, she could have sabotaged their efforts. Her palms had been tied together, rendering her hands useless. She was also tied at the ankles and knees. The only thing she could do was try to throw her torso to the side to scoot her over. Even then though, it only scooted her maybe a centimeter? She tried again. No better luck. 

Then her phone rang inside her pocket.

“Seriously?!” she shouted at it, knowing full well she was addressing no one. “Now. Is. Not. The. TIME!” 

She jumped a little further this time… and toppled over onto the floor.

“Whoa wahh!” She managed to tilt her head away to keep it from cracking on the ground. Judy kept at her ropes, until her ears perked up. She heard a voice from outside calling...

“Everyone, this is an emergency! Please stay inside! Don’t come out, don’t listen to SPEC. Stay inside!”

Judy took a deep breath: “TRAVIS!” 

He went quiet.

She opened her mouth to holler again. “TRAVIS!” 

Pawsteps in the rough, darting closer. 

“TRAVIS!”

The pawsteps approached the house, came in the main room, and the coyote looked down at her. “Oh God, Judy! What happened?!”

“The Golden Claw, they tied us up. Can you get us out?”

Without a word Travis sat Judy and Nick upright again. Then he knelt down and began pulling at the ropes, using his claws to pick at the knots. “Oh geez, of all the times…”

“It’s even worse,” Judy felt her hands loosen, and relished the feeling. “They’re going to poison the entire city. All prey mammals, they’re going to unleash the Night Howler toxin, turn prey into murdering savages, and then…” The thought sickened her so much she couldn’t even complete the sentence. 

Travis himself slowed as she spoke. “You’re… you’re serious?” 

“Yes, and we need to stop them before they get to City Hall, and the watering hole. We—”

The phone blared in her pocket again. Judy gave an exasperated sigh. “Here, just…” she finally managed to wrench her hands free. “Work on Nick, I’ll deal with this and get myself out.” With that she wormed her paw into her pocket and got her phone. “Listen, I don’t have long to talk, so—”

“Judy Judy, please! Don’t hang up!”

Her blood chilled. “Bellwether?”

“Hey. Judy. Listen.” the lamb spoke in short sharp gasps. “I know, that we don’t always see eye to eye on issues—”

The rabbit huffed, trying to pick the knot on her knee. “That’d be an understatement, but go on.”

“Um. Well….” There was a coarse grating sound, something rough against something rougher, and from what Judy could tell Bellwether was in a very tight place. “Predators are storming CIty Hall right now?” She spoke in a high pitched voice, a cross between trying to be pleasant while being under immense stress. “If you could help me out, I’m sure we can let bygones be bygones? Right?”

Judy silently fumed, finally managing to cut one knee loose. “You know what Bellwether, no. I’m not going to save you. You’re about to get what you deserve for trying to murder predators!”

“Hey, I just sectioned them off in the city, and yeah, I wanted to kick them out, but it’s not like I tried to—”

“You can drop the act. I saw Happytown last night. I know what you and Hoofer were planning.”

There was a long silence. “What are you talking about? It’s… it’s just a neighborhood to get predators away from us.”

“I didn’t see a single building there Dawn. And I can send you pictures to prove it, there were only trenches — mass graves. I overheard SPEC and everything.”

“You… you overheard...” She suddenly seemed to lose her breath. “Oh no, no, he…? I didn’t— I never intended — Hoofer was — it was his project! I didn’t know! I thought it was just gonna be a predator community outside of the city, away from us! You gotta believe me!” Her voice was growing hysterical “He showed me blueprints and everything! I wasn’t involved, I just gave him the go ahead! That’s all! I didn’t — I’d never want to —I just wanted to be mayor, Judy! You gotta believe me, Judy! Please!” 

“You wanted to become mayor by demonizing predators,” she spat back with venom in her voice. Judy now moved down to her ankles. “What  _ exactly  _ did you think it would lead to, huh?”

“No no no no no no…” the lamb trailed off. Her voice was shaky and timid. “Judy, please. I don’t wanna die here.” And in that moment, Judy could find no sinister tone, no lurking knife ready to stab her in the back. “If you save me now, I… I will tell you everything I know. I’ll come clean. I’ll go in front of the whole city and confess everything.”

Judy looked over at Travis, and caught him staring. He immediately refocused on Nick’s arms, the fox just starting to stir and lifting his free arm up to rub his eyes. “Are you in a safe place now?”

“Yes, the mayor’s panic room. But they’re coming up soon, and I won’t be able to talk.”

“Stay there until they leave. They’re gonna head to the watering hole to poison the city, and we’re gonna stop them there.”

“The watering hole?! Judy Judy, I can help! I can be helpful!”

The rabbit practically stared through her phone. “You can help?”

“I studied public health, and my thesis paper was about the Zootopia water system. It’s really old, practically a maze inside, but I know it like the back of my hoof. If you can get to the reservoir before the Golden Claw, then you can stop them.”

Judy put a hand to her forehead, thinking long and hard. “If you’re lying to us—”

“I’m not, I promise!” Desperation was laced in Bellwether’s voice.

“Let me finish,” Judy spoke. “If you’re lying, you are going to condemn yourself and millions of people to a future as chattel. Do you understand?”

“I promise Judy, I — oh no, they’re coming!” The phone clicked off, and Judy was left uneasy. It took her a while to lower the phone from her ear.

“Think we can trust her?” Travis asked as he finished off Nick’s legs.

“Not really,” Judy shook her head. “But she’s as screwed as we are if the Golden Claw succeeds.”

Nick groaned, and rubbed at his domed forehead. “So, I just picked up that tail end of the conversation. That wasn’t Bellwether, was it?” 

“Yeah.” Judy stood up from her chair finally, kicking the ropes off from around her legs. “Golden Claw’s at City Hall, tearing the place apart. If we hurry, we can cut them off.”

Nick gingerly felt the bump on his skull, and hitting a sensitive part he flinched. “Carrots, listen. Maybe, just for now, we should just… get outta dodge?”

She turned to him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, there’s no way we can get across town that fast. And then, what are we gonna do? Get shot down? Have our butts handed to us again? Look, let’s just take Lucas’ advice. We go settle down in Bunnyburrow, okay? We wait out the whole storm here. The Golden Claw will run rampant, but it’s not gonna last. They’re a pack of liars, and people will realize it. It’ll be messy, but we can get out of it.”

“Are you serious?!” Judy shook her head. “Since when did you become so scared?!”

“Since a tiger knocked me out in one blow to the head!” He yelled back. “Judy, this is different. You tried your hardest, but we can’t win this!”

“But everyone is counting on us! We can’t give up! We need to keep trying!”

“This isn’t an after-school special, Hopps! It’s real life, and the reality right now is that you cannot stop the Golden Claw!”

“ _ I  _ can’t? And why can’t I, huh? What, you think a rabbit can’t take on a bunch of predators—”

“You’re gonna DIE Judy!” 

Nick suddenly took her by the shoulders, and his voice cracked at his scream. She saw the fear in his eyes, and suddenly she understood.

“You’re not invincible,” he croaked out. “You nearly died when I... “ he couldn’t bring himself to say it. “And that’s when I was feral. These guys will kill you for the sheer pleasure of it. And if I couldn’t help you now, then what good will I do then?”

“You’ll do better,” Travis broke in. “Because you’ll have me.”

Judy looked up at the coyote. His eyes betrayed a hint of nervousness, but he still stood there proud. 

“You helped me Judy, when I was close to death. It’d be wrong for me not to back you up now.”

Judy felt her breath steal away. “Travis, no, you don’t have to. These guys are dangerous. Besides,  _ I  _ was just paying you back for curing me in the hospital.”

“That was my job, so it doesn’t count.” Travis quipped. “And listen, it’ll be more than just us three. Come on, I’m gonna finish my rounds…”


	30. Race to Waterworks

Lucas followed the Golden Claw out of City Hall, squinting his eyes against the harsh sunlight. Both the big rig and tanker truck stood waiting. The gang carried Hoofer's Night Howler rifles with them. Not like he'd be using them again…

"Next stop," the fox announced, "the old watering hole! Everyone get on in," he took the opportunity to casually aim around the city, trying to dart any mammals who hadn't decided it was a good idea to get as far away from here as possible. "Oh, Lucas?"

The fox grabbed Lucas' wrist — he was surprisingly strong for such a small mammal. "Yeah?"

"You seem distracted…" his amber eyes were unreadable, and Lucas could not tell if the fox suspected him of disloyalty or not. "I hope you're not upset that we couldn't find Bellwether?"

"Oh, no, I mean," Lucas felt a twinge of relief. "I mean, we'll get her another time, she probably just went out to some other part of the city, we'll get her in the end?"

Right away Lucas felt his answer might have been a bit too cheerful, especially when the fox tilted his head. "I also hope you're not having second thoughts, Lucas? Because we  _are_  making history now, and history is never made by people who second-guessed."

"No, I… I promise," Lucas closed his eyes. Remember Pierce. Remember how he couldn't save him… "I want to make things better for predators."

The fox kept staring though, and reached up around Lucas' neck. "What's this?"

Lucas felt the fingers on the silver pendant. "Oh, it's just a little something. My father gave it to me." He adjusted his collar, tucking it in. "It's Moocent de Paul, my father was a church man…"

"Hmph, a prey-based religion," the fox shook his head. He looked out over the empty square. Sirens flashed on the far streets, and the sound of traffic choked the air. "We're dealing with something bigger than religion now. If we pull this off, your name is going to go down in history. You'll be a Founding Father, schoolchildren will learn about you decades from now. You'll be immortalized in museums and textbooks around the world," he gestured out over the plaza. "You're going to be a hero to millions."

"I know, and I'm looking forward to it. I'll do whatever it takes."

A cock of the brow. "Whatever it takes?"

Lucas nodded, and the fox waved him onto the big rig's passenger seat. The fox himself sat at the driver's wheel, with the cheetah in the middle. Lucas sat in the passenger seat, relieved that the fox hadn't decided to turn on him. But, in his mind, he couldn't draw his thoughts away from that image of the bear asking not to be darted, the fox darting him anyways… Lucas eyed the rifle with some nervousness, just imagining it being used against  _him_. Shaking his head, he looked out the window at the ZPD blockade. "How are we going to get out of here?"

The fox narrowed his eyes with a smirk. "Oh, they'll let us through…"

On the far side of the plaza, Chief Bogo had Judy on his phone. "They're getting back into their trucks," he reported. "They're going to be coming soon."

"Hold them off," Judy answered on her end. She motioned for a small crowd of predators around the corner. The phone suddenly burst with noise. "Bogo?!" She could hear crashing and yelling, his deep voice bellowing far away. "What's going on?!"

"They just rammed through the barricade! All units, follow the truck! Divert it north to Grass Street!"

"No matter what it takes, keep them at bay for as long as possible!" She hung up before barking to the group, "That way, talk to the coyote!" Then she ran for the nearby train platform.

Travis stood on a cafe table to be visible over everyone. By now they'd gathered at least fifty. More trickled in, with the commotion ever steadily growing. Tiny snowflakes began to drift down, and Nick could feel the little pinpricks of cold as they melted against his fur while he helped gather everyone together. He could overhear Travis explaining, over and over, that SPEC had been compromised, that the Golden Claw was going to destroy the city…

"Come on, don't step on any tails," the fox motioned people around. He sidled his way towards the coyote, now in the midst of an argument, "We gotta get going, Judy's going for the train now."

"I got it, I got it," the coyote only spared him a glance as he was sucked back into the argument. "Listen, it's the right thing to do—"

"Right thing?!" It was an old honey badger, about two-thirds Nick's height. He had to crane his neck to look up at Travis. "You just said that the grazers wanted to kill us, and you want us to save them? What kind of soft-headed things is that  _rabbit_ trying to fill you with?"

Before either Travis or Nick could respond, a young panther right behind him added, "Yeah, it's ridiculous! Why the heck should I care?"

Nick watched as Travis stumbled over his words, trying to form some kind of argument. Then the fox glared back at the badger and panther, and snapped: "Don't."

They stared back, almost offended.

"Don't care," Nick shrugged. "Because if you really don't care, then nothing I say can change that. If you don't care about other mammals, innocent mammals who did nothing to you, mammals who tried to oppose Bellwether and Hoofer at every turn, then my words won't do anything. You don't have to be here, and you're free to go home."

He looked back and forth, his eyes daring them to reply. Neither of them did. Travis bit his lip before calling out, "Alright, everybody! We need to get moving! Stay close!"

"Hmph," the badger managed to scoff again, "how do you think you're gonna get to the watering hole before the Golden Claw anyways? It's all the way across the city!"

At that moment though a whistle pierced the air. Judy approached the crowd and motioned towards the train station down the block. "Guess who just commandeered us a ride?" she grinned.

The Zootopia transit was waiting at the station.

* * *

Lucas gripped the handle on his door as the truck's cab shuddered with every impact. The big rig scraped through traffic, banked on the sidewalk and shaved those little sidewalk trees down to the roots. Benches were splintered, entire outdoor dining areas bulldozed and left as piles of mangled steel. Every jolt shook Lucas to the bone. He realized that after this whole order, his company would have two less trucks to use...

"'Nother blockade, two blocks ahead," the cheetah pointed out to the fox. "Looks like they brought out the barricades too."

"Tell the others we're going south," the fox muttered.

Lucas felt the cheetah elbow his ribs. "Go on," he nodded at the window.

The wolf felt hyper-aware of his hand as he cranked the glass down on his side, then leaned out to holler. Wind whipped at his ears and flattened them against his head. "HEYYYY!" He waved one arm out before quickly grabbing at the window's edge again. "HEY, WE'RE GOING SOUTH!" He pointed up over the roof of their truck, the driver's left. "SOUTH!"

"Hey, while you got it open," the fox took one handpaw off the wheel to grab the Night Howler rifle. He held it out to Lucas, "Do a little hunting, huh?" He bounced his eyebrows.

Lucas accepted it, and began to aim down the sights as the truck screeched into a turn. For a terrifying moment his aim got interrupted when he had to grab again the handle on his door. The entire truck threatened to topple! The trailer jackknifed… but finally they slammed down on all four wheels again, and the truck began to drive again.

The wolf readjusted himself in his seat as the fox blared on the horn, shoving cars out of his way. He aimed, looking for a SPEC officer, or some pompous pig on his way to the bank, or—

"Right there, in front of the Sugar Bowl!" The fox cackled.

The Sugar Bowl… just like the place he had known growing up… Lucas could see a group of young fawns, all trying to shuffle back, fear large in their eyes. A father rabbit trying to drag his daughter from the line of fire, his own father, laughing at his own bad jokes all those years ago, hey, HEY!"

Lucas snapped out of it when he felt the cheetah whack him on the back of his head. "You missed the shot, dumbbell. Here," he began trying to worm his way into Lucas' seat, "let me have a go."

The wolf immediately shoved back at him, "Aiming out a moving vehicle isn't easy, you know. Just lost my bearings, give me a moment."

"Come on, I wanna hunt! Give me the gun!"

"Quit it, get off me!" Lucas tried to lean out the window away from the cheetah, the gun still in the crook of his elbow. "I told you, I'll shoot when I get a shot lined up!"

And just as he spoke, the gun fell from his grasp and clattered to the street.

"Oh, good going," the cheetah snapped, "Real wise guy!"

"Will you both shut up?" The fox silenced them both, cutting their dispute short. "I asked Lucas to shoot, and I don't appreciate you two getting physical when I'm behind the wheel." He shot a glare up at the cheetah, who folded his little ears back.

"Sorry boss," he muttered.

Lucas looked away, still gripping the handle of the door. Honestly he was happy the cheetah had gotten physical, so he had an excuse for dropping the gun...

They hit a few more police cruisers, sometimes in a very literal sense, as they wormed their way downtown. Finally, the demolition derby crawled to a close as they began to turn onto the final street towards the watering hole. The facility had a nice sleek front office and geodesic domes rose in the distance. They clashed with the brick of the older buildings in the plant, further in the back. A chain-link fence surrounded the entire facility.

And in the very front, before the fence, before the office, were a crowd of predators. Judy stood before them, defiant.

"What the…" the fox snarled. He jabbed a finger at Judy. "See, this is why we don't let soft feelings cloud our work," he snapped at Lucas. Then he reached up and yanked on the truck's horn. It blared out over the gathered crowd. "Get out of the way! We're going to help you!"

He watched as Judy stepped forward, about to speak… but then a coyote gently touched her shoulder. His eyes implored. The rabbit stood back, and the coyote stepped forward.

"Golden Claw," he called out as best he could. Travis had pictured his voice being much more sonorous and impressive, like in the movies. Instead he felt embarrassingly short-ranged, with the city sounds seeming to suck his voice right from the air. Nevertheless he projected the best he could: "Golden Claw, you are not helping us. You're not going to help anyone by destroying our city. And so help me, I will not let you. As long as I stand here, I won't let you cross!"

Judy watched the fox stare back with a set face. Again he blared the horn, and swiped his paw for everyone to disperse.

Then she heard the sound of fabric rustling. Judy looked at Travis; he had taken arm of the lioness standing beside him, and locked it in his own. Then he did the same with Nick on his other side. Meanwhile the lioness reached out for the hyena at her side, and Nick for the tiger. Bit by bit, a mammal chain was formed. A wall of fur and cloth, standing the line between the Golden Claw and the watering hole. Judy stood right before them, her heart swelling with pride. Then she turned to face the truck again.

Lucas leaned forward in his seat, jaw hanging open slightly as he watched the display unfold. Judy could see him gulp a little. The fox just stared at the crowd. He had a mix of disappointment, annoyance, determination… finally he glanced at his mirrors. There was a beeping sound as he slowly backed up.

A rolling cheer erupted. The predators raised their clasped paws, and Judy felt her heart lift. Travis himself gave a sigh of relief. "Whew! Man, for a second, I could have sworn he was going to—"

The truck engine revved. Judy looked back to see the lights flash. The horn blared. The tires sped the cab forward—

"HOLY—" Nick's voice managed to cut through the screams as everyone dived out of the way. The big rig burst right through the fence and onto the grounds of the treatment plant, with the tanker following after. Judy got back to her feet and dashed after; she could see them disappearing into a massive brick tunnel in the distance.

"Oh…" she turned back to the crowd. "Is anyone hurt? Is everyone okay?"

Travis looked at her, helping a bear up to her feet. "Just shaken," she could hear the adrenaline pumping in his voice. "That… wow, that was…" he put his paw over his chest, "Man, my heart's racing…"

"Travis, listen: I need you to go into the main facility, make sure that all the crew get out safely. Find the head engineers and stay close. I'll need you there if I need to talk to them. Nick, come with me."

Travis nodded, and with that Judy dashed through the overgrown field, the great modernist domes looming overhead. Nick followed close behind as they approached the gaping tunnel. The aged infrastructure sagged with old dripping plants. Just before the opening, the container truck had been left open and cleared out, the fender in tatters. The tanker truck with the toxin was gone. Judy dialed her phone, let it ring… "Bellwether?"

"Judy! Good to hear you again, really good to—"

"Can it. We're outside a large tunnel, got concrete floors…" she spotted a carved stone on the wall. "Maintenance Tunnel D?"

"Tunnel D, Tunnel D…" Bellwether tried to remember. "They must be heading for the main reservoir. It's a bit of a maze there, but I can get you through. I'll get to a computer and find the floor plans just to be sure."

"But they wouldn't know how to get there, right? They would have no idea where they're going?"

Nick tapped her shoulder. "Unless they had a hostage…"

He pointed down at the ground. A uniform hat and badge had fallen on the floor, and there was the glisten of blood. There was no body nearby though...

"Okay, I have the building pulled up. Judy, listen to me," Bellwether spoke. "You're gonna want to go forward. At the first intersection, go left."

Judy put Bellwether on speaker and activated the flashlight on her phone. Nick did the same, and together they ventured inside. The sunlight began to fade behind them, and the incessant dripping from the ceiling sent echoes in every direction. Little by little the floor began to descend.

"First intersection," Judy announced. "Going left now."

"Good, good! Keep going straight, and at the next intersection keep going straight.

Judy nodded silently. She could hear the sound of heavy equipment echoing from far, far ahead of her. Different voices mirrored and bounced her way, and some even seemed to come from behind. Her light passed over the dingy ground, and every once in a while highlighted the sleek waxy shell of a cockroach. As they neared the next intersection, she found a three-way junction. They could only go forward or to the right. "Alrighty, we're heading straight, what do we…" Then something caught her eye. "Wait a minute."

On the rightward pathway, a square of white shone out against the dismal ground. Judy approached and picked it up. It was a sticky note, branded for Canisson Industries.

"Lucas," she whispered. "Hey, they went right! What's down that way?"

"That's…" A couple mouse clicks could be heard through the speaker, "that's the chlorination tanks. Of course, it'll be easier for them to measure out how much toxin they put in! That's…" then she gasped. "...that's perfect."

"What do you mean?" Judy looked down at the sticky note again.

"In the 1800s, the watering plant had a lot of trouble with flooding, so they had an emergency release to empty the reservoir if needed. After flood control got better, the emergency release fell out of use, and then when chlorination was put into effect, they installed the machinery right in the shaft where the water goes!"

Judy blinked. "That sounds… incredibly unsafe."

"Hey, this was before workplace standards, and no mayor wants to spend tax dollars on something like that. I would know."

Judy looked down the dark tunnel, trying to pick out anyone from the blackness. "So we just gotta flood the tunnel, and the Golden Claw is dead?"

"Yes! Easy solution, this is great!"

"Not quite," she looked again at the sticky note, then at Nick. "We gotta get him outta there."

The fox looked down at her. In his eyes she could tell he disagreed… but he also knew that it would be impossible to dissuade her.

"I'm going after him," Judy began jogging down the tunnel, eyes peeled for more notes. Nick followed her. "I need you to call Travis and tell him how to activate the flood control. We're going to end this  _now."_


	31. Lucas Chooses

Judy felt the cold brick beneath her paws. The chill of wet soaked up against her sole. In her disgust she flicked her foot, shivering from the cold. Far off ahead, engines sputtered and echoed towards them.

"Here you go," Nick held out his phone. It was already dialing Travis, and Judy traded him her phone.

"Yeah, Judy?" The coyote picked up, with lots of voices in the background. Judy had to turn her volume down to keep it from echoing too much. At least the trucks' noise would help cover her.

"Travis," she whispered, "I need you and the engineers to find the old emergency release. It should flood the chlorination tanks, the Golden Claw is heading there now."

"Drown them out, got it!"

"No no no!" Judy gripped her phone in her panic. "Listen, I gotta get Lucas out of there first! I… I know he betrayed us, but he's helping to lead us to the Golden Claw. I can't just let him die."

"Okay, but…" she could hear the apprehension in his voice, "didn't the Golden Claw already overpower you before?"

"I wasn't prepared, okay? And if Lucas helps, then the odds will be different."

"If, Judy?"

She closed her eyes. "If there's a chance I can save him, I have to take it. I'm not just gonna leave him behind."

Travis sighed into the phone. "Listen, just be careful, and I don't just mean about getting hurt. If you tip off the Golden Claw that they're in a trap, then that's it."

"I'll get it done. I'll find a way."

"Okay, hold on." Then she heard him screaming in the background: "DOES ANYONE KNOW ABOUT THE OLD FLOOD CONTROL!?" A pause. "NO NO, SOMETHING THAT WOULD CAUSE A FLOOD!" Another pause, "ALRIGHT, THANK YOU. Okay, we got someone to do that. But Judy, please, you don't have to do this."

"I know."

She let the words linger. Finally Travis muttered, "Let me know when you're ready then… stay safe." He ended the call.

Judy heard Nick behind her. "So, got any idea on how exactly you're gonna get Lucas out and keep the Golden Claw in the trap?"

"I'm thinking," Judy retorted. With a sigh she dialed again. "How are we looking, Dawn?"

"You're almost there, it's just a straight shot ahead."

"Alright, gonna go quiet now…" Judy turned off her phone, silenced it, and returned to her flashlight. Sure enough, the sound of yelling grew with every step. A couple more roaches skittered along, blindly searching for anything to eat. Suddenly a gunshot punched through the air and bounced off the curved walls, making them flinch. Judy jogged forward now, keeping her light pointed at the ground. The tunnel slowly curved in front of her, and eventually a faint electric light could be seen.

Quickly, she stowed away her phone, doubly making sure to silence it, then she pressed against the wall, edging forward. Nick mirrored her actions. He stuck his head to the wall and tried to peer around her ears.

The hall led to an archway, which opened into the side of a long room. A ramp led down to what looked like an empty brick channel. Judy spied the tanker truck, and predators all around it, down in that channel. The room was mostly brick and stone, and as she took a breath, dank ugly air filled her lungs. It had probably been the same air that was here a century and a half ago.

Just to the left of the entry archway was another opening covered in grating; it was unlit, so Judy could only see maybe a dozen feet into it. On the right, a raised brick platform jutted out past the ramp. A pair of rusty ladders peeked out over the edge of the platform, leading to the channel below. Judy could spy some scaffolding on the other side of the platform for some long-forgotten project. Pipes and ropes and plywood were stacked up onto each other on a structure that looked like it was a gerbil's sneeze away from collapsing.

On the far side of the channel Judy could see electric lighting and several large steel tanks labeled "CHLORINE SOLUTION", clashing with the surrounding brickwork. Hoses trailed up from the tanks, swirled around the pipes along the ceiling, and led off through the grating.

Judy could see the Golden Claw trailing their own hoses from the tanker truck, getting ready to hook up the Night Howler toxin. She could also see a capybara in uniform, lying dead on the ground...

Finally, she could see Lucas, standing with his handpaws in his pockets. His eyes kept flicking towards the tunnel, but gave no indication he saw Judy.

The rabbit scanned over the entire room again, a plan hatching in her mind. She motioned for Nick to backtrack so they could talk. "Here's what I'm thinking. First, gimme your phone..."

* * *

The Golden Claw watched as the steel tanks dribbled out their contents. Chlorine flowed out and away from where they'd come, the solution racing down the cracks in the bricks. Lucas felt the faint whiff of chlorine nibble his nose as the diluted solution pooled across the floor. "Alright," the fox clapped his handpaws together, "get this stuff hooked up."

Lucas watched the hoses snake towards the tanks, ready to pump the city's water supply full of toxins…

"Hold on!"

All the other predators paused and stared at him. The wolf felt his breath catch, trying to think of something. "The tanks, is the chloride solution fully gone? The compound could react with the toxin, create chlorine gas. We'd all be killed."

All the gang members looked at each other, worried about this new possibility. All of them, except the fox, who just tilted his head. "So, you're worried for our own well-being? That's it?"

Lucas said nothing, his stomach squirming at the fox's interrogation.

"This stuff," he gestured at the liquid solution draining away, "is barely stronger than pool water. There's only going to be what, a few drops left in the tank?"

"Well it doesn't hurt to be safe—"

" _And,_ if there was a problem, what would we do? Got anything to hose down the inside?" The fox took a step forward, prompting Lucas to step back. "Should we just say 'never mind' and leave? Hm?"

Lucas shook his head, trying to think of a response. He didn't do well under pressure like this, he wished more than anything that Pierce were here…

But instead there was only the fox, who grinned. "You're still soft, aren't you? You're trying to play tough guy, but you're just a great," he jabbed his finger into the wolf's chest, "big," jabbed again, " _pansy,"_ and again, "of a predator. And you have loyalty problems too..."

He suddenly dug into Lucas' coat pocket. The wolf felt the paw scrabbling against his torso through the fabric before withdrawing and pulling out a pack of sticky notes. The other predators all muttered angrily.

"Lingering near the back of the convoy to leave a trail." With a scoff, the fox tossed the pack of notes at the wolf's face, hitting him in the forehead. "I could have thought of better than that as a  _cub_. Doesn't matter, no one's stopping us now. We're giving the world back to our fellow predators."

Lucas felt the humiliation rise inside him, and at the fox's words, he couldn't help but bare his teeth, "You mean the predators you ran over to get in here?" His voice trembled as he spoke, and the fox replied without missing a beat.

"It's not our fault if prey propaganda has twisted the minds of our brothers and sisters. They're not acting like themselves, they think we can hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya' and make everything better. Hopefully we gave them a wake-up call—"

"That doesn't make any sense!" Lucas suddenly grabbed the fox by the shoulders, "You could have killed somebody!"

There was a sudden rush of clicks as a dozen guns were trained on him. The fox looked up at the wolf only mildly amused. "Lucas? Put me down, now."

Lucas glanced around, but kept his face right before the fox's. He shivered in unbridled fury, but he knew that if he so much as breathed too hard he would be riddled with bullets. He closed his eyes, and released his grip on the fox.

"Get back in the truck. We'll talk about what to do with you later." The fox motioned for Lucas to obey, and the wolf took a grudging step—

A phone jingle rang out down the tunnel. "Oh, shh!"

All guns now trained on the tunnel, and the fox walked around Lucas. "Alright, come out in five seconds or we fire!"

Moments later, Judy appeared out of the blackness, phone in her hand, taking tentative steps forward.

The fox nodded, "Mhm, and the rest of you?"

The rabbit shook her head, looking back as she continued to walk closer to the Golden Claw. "There's… no one else here." She kept stepping forward, and the fox only spoke when she was safely near them.

"Shoot around her."

Judy yelped and hit the floor as a dozen firearms blazed into the darkness. The hail of bullets covered every space at least fifty yards down. No screams, no ricochets off of armor. Nothing.

As the fox approached Judy, she sprung back to her feet, ready for anything he was about to attempt. Instead he just chuckled, "No police force? No back-up? I'm insulted, Hopps. Maybe that's why cops aren't supposed to be rabbits?"

"Ha ha, never heard that before," she muttered. "Gig's up. You and your gang are all under arrest."

"Oh, you are  _cuuute,"_ he dragged the word out, needling it in. "How about, instead, you get lost before the big bad fox hurts widdle ol' you?" He flashed out his claws and twitched his fingers.

"Oooh, you know what? I wouldn't mind that," she rolled up her sleeve and showed off a series of scars — the ones Nick gave her when he went savage in the Natural History Museum. "I've dealt with foxes before…"

"Judy!" Lucas suddenly called out. Both turned to face him. "Judy, I told you, get out of here!"

"You don't know me very well, do you? And after all this time… " She took a deep breath. "Lucas, I want you to come home. I want you to get out of this."

The predators chuckled at this, and leaned on whatever surface was nearby to watch the rabbit. The fox took a pistol from one of his lackeys.

"I'm not gonna say this isn't who you are," Judy continued. "But this isn't who you have to be. Do you think after everything that's happened, that the Golden Claw actually cares about predators? Think about what Nick said, they just want to look out for themselves."

The fox nodded, "Thank you for the after-school special, Long-Ears. Lucas," he slapped the pistol in the wolf's chest, "kill her."

The wolf looked down at the weapon in his arms. Slowly he grasped the grip, and looked down at Judy. She shook her head, unafraid. "Lucas, you don't have to. We can get out of here, out of Zootopia together."

"Shoot her now," the fox reiterated. "You don't want to let us down again, do you?"

Lucas looked down at the weapon, the barrel still pointing at the ground. Slowly he began to raise it up, his eyes on Judy…

"It's gonna be alright," she stayed calm, "just drop the gun, and I can get you out of here."

"Don't listen to her, you wanna save predators? You gotta start here!" The fox slapped the wolf on the heart, making a  _thwump._ "Right here! Just pull the trigger!"

"Remember what your father said?" Lucas caught his breath as Judy grabbed upon the memory. "He wanted you to help people. You can still help people!"

The silver pendant. Lucas felt it weighing around his neck, the metal pressing against his fur. His father upon his deathbed, handing over one for Lucas, one for his brother, and loved ones and community all around him, people whose lives he had touched—

"DO IT! NOW!"

With an inhale Lucas tensed. His finger readied on the trigger. He swung his arm up. Eyed the fox. Fired.

An empty  _click._

Lucas felt his horror grow as the fox simply blinked. He gave a little snort. "Alright, let's get this over with."

He pulled his own gun out and turned to shoot. In that moment Judy jumped forward onto his back. She wrapped an arm around his throat with a steel grip, cutting off his air flow. Her free paw grabbed at the fox's, struggling to keep the pistol pointed away from her while he gasped for air. "NOW! NOW!" she screamed.

Lucas yelped as Judy grabbed the fox, and began trying to pry her off. The rest of the Golden Claw surrounded them, resulting in a messy chorus of shouts and slurs and curses as they all waited for the best moment to shoot without hitting their boss. No one noticed Nick up in the shadows on the walkway, texting Travis from Judy's phone.

They did notice the rumble in the distance.

All fighting stopped as far down the grated tunnel, indistinct booms came their way. Then a quiet hissing. A swarm of cockroaches began to flood from the tunnel, all fleeing some unseen force. The cool air blew back at them. Every instinct in Judy's body screamed.

"What is that, what the  _heck_ is that?!" The predators began to back away as the hissing grew into a roar. Judy jumped off the fox and grabbed Lucas' arm.

"COME ON!" She yelled and guided him to the scaffolding, where a rope dangled down.

"Hey, hey! Shoot them!" The fox screamed out in fury, hoarse from the strangling. Grabbing a rifle from one of his followers, he began to spray bullets in Judy's direction. Judy and Lucas both hit the ground to avoid the fire. "Come on, get behind me-"

"Boss?" The cheetah's voice bled with fear, convincing the fox to look back. In the distance through the grating, the light glanced off the crest of an oncoming surge of water, at least five feet high, and getting deeper the more it approached. For the first time that Judy could see, the fox's ears flattened against his head. All thought of weapons fled his mind. All the predators began to run down the tunnel.

"HOPPS!" The fox hollered and turned in rage, intent on at least tearing her apart before drowning. He turned to see her and Lucas holding onto the rope, tying it around their hands. The rope ran up into the air, around a distant pipe, and came back down atop the scaffolding, where… Nick was standing, ready to tip the whole thing over.

Judy gave a little smirk and a wink.

With that, she kicked at a leg of the scaffolding, while Nick shoved the whole structure away from the wall. It tilted and collapsed, the heavy pipes falling, pulling the rope. The fox watched Judy and Lucas zip up away to safety.

"NO! NO! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE—" That was the last he said before the water slammed into him.

The wave lifted the truck off its wheels, the toxin spewing out and polluting the water. Metal screeched as the tanks were torn from their stands. By ones and twos and threes the predators were swept away, last of all the cheetah, trying to dash ahead, but even he couldn't outrun the wave. The flood left no room at the top for air; it pummeled them against every wall. The fox couldn't tell up from down, and every second he spent cut off from precious air was a second that he felt his mind screaming and instincts flaring, sucked down into darker and darker tunnels. His will weakened, his lungs opened, and the waters consumed him.


	32. Silence Broken

Judy and Lucas dangled in the air, watching the flood roar past below them, all of the Golden Claw members washed away. She could see Nick struggling to grab the rope and hold on as the water began to wash over his platform. Lucas struggled even more, since he had no footing at all and none of Judy’s physical training. They managed to keep their grips though; the alternative was the deluge.

Finally, the raging torrent subsided into a gentle river, and the platform exposed itself again. “Alright,” Judy said, “Come on. Keep your legs together…”

She let go, swinging herself towards the center of the water. The surface broke beneath her, and she flailed a moment before resurfacing. Lucas followed as well. Both made it to the platform wet and dripping, but alive.

“They gone?” Lucas whispered as he sloshed out of the water. His voice echoed off the concrete walls and calming flow.

Nick and Judy both looked out at the water flowing past. Her eye fixed on the far tunnel, Judy nodded, “They’re gone. If the water could pick up and carry the truck, I wouldn’t be surprised if it broke their necks.”

“Serves ‘em right,” Nick sneered, and he gave a rude gesture to the disappearing water.

Judy kept staring after, until she heard Lucas clear his throat behind her. She turned to watch as he nervously rubbed his neck. “Judy…” his eyes looked down at the ground. Every so often he looked up, but when he made eye contact he immediately averted his gaze again. “I… I made a mistake Judy…”

“Yeah. You did.” She put her handpaws on her hips. “I’ll give you that you led us to the Golden Claw, but you also got them here in the first place. A lot of people got hurt.”

Lucas flinched at her words. “Why’d you even save me then? I’m just… I...” His voice caught.

“You wanna know the truth? Hey,” she waited for him to look at her again. “I saved you because there’s still something to salvage in you. You can still deliver the antidote, and you can turn your life around.”

The wolf gave a little exhale, and smiled. “Judy, thank you so much, I… I really appreciate it, I won’t let you down—”

“That doesn’t mean,” she raised a forefinger, “that I forgive you for what you did.” A long silence lingered between them. “I think we can agree that this is fair?”

She pulled a set of handcuffs from her belt. Lucas eyed them. Then he bowed his head in obedience, and held out his wrists. Judy clicked them on.

“Come on,” Nick jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to the door away from the water. “Let’s get out of here.”

The door led up a flight of brick stairs to a more modern door. It opened into a long hallway with speckled tile and blank walls. Bit by bit they began to see and hear signs of life echoing through the halls, like sirens outside…

They finally came out the front doors of the water plant to see a scene of total chaos. Travis and the other predators filled the sidewalk, spilling into the facility through the hole in the fence. Around them were SPEC officers, trying to wrestle a few into submission. Around SPEC was the ZPD, trying to wrestle _them_ into submission. Flashing lights adorned cars in all directions. Every now and then was the chirp of a siren as yet another ZPD officer pulled up and jumped out. Shouts filled the air and confusion reigned supreme.

Bogo had managed to find Travis, who was talking very quickly while Bogo wrote. They were almost comical in their size difference. Yet the coyote seemed so sure of himself, even as Bogo’s characteristically suspicious eyes diced apart everything he was saying.

“...went in, asked for the engineer in charge of everything. I know it looks bad, but with the Golden Claw bursting through the fence, obviously we had to do something, right? And then… Judy!” He suddenly caught sight of her and waved her over. “She, she... “ The coyote looked from Bogo to Judy, not sure who to speak to, before finally resting on Judy. “Are they gone?”

She nodded. “They all got washed to sea. But we gotta get the Coast Guard out there, make sure there are no stragglers. And-and SPEC, are they being blocked off? They can’t get any predators to Happytown!”

“We’re doing our best, we’re just trying to PUT THE WOLF CUB DOWN!” He suddenly barked at a ram trying to grab a kid. Two ZPD officers immediately went to confront him. “Our forces were both hit hard at City Hall, but SPEC more so. There’s been no word from Hoofer or Bellwether on—”

A loud metallic squeal echoed around the city. Everyone clamped their hands over their ears as an emergency intercom system kicked in.

“G-Good afternoon, Zootopia…” Bellwether’s voice came through. “There’s… there’s been a lot of stuff happening, and I want to address all of you, for what… what will... “ She took a breath, “I wish to speak to you all one last time, before I surrender myself to the Zootopia Police Department.”

All around Judy, the chaos quieted. Officers looked up at the nearby loudspeaker, forgetting their conflict as Bellwether spoke. There was a shuffling of papers, the clearing of a voice. Everyone from Savannah Central to Tundratown, Sahara Square to Little Rodentia to the Rainforest District, heard what she said next:

“I have lied to you, all of you, over the past year. The savage predator epidemic, which started under Mayor Lionheart, was entirely created by me. I used a chemical extract to send predators into violent fits, and then used the ensuing fear and panic for my own political benefit. I…. I hurt, and even killed people, I discredited Officer Judy Hopps when she found the truth about me, all to secure my position as mayor.

“But now... “ another breath, which sounded like a half sob, “now I stand in a City Hall with a dead city council. I stand in an office where people I’d considered allies tormented me. I’m left with nothing now, but the knowledge that I will be considered not a hero, but a villain by history.”

There was another silence. “All members of the Savage Predator Emergency Commission, Clive Hoofer is dead. I hereby assume command, and order you all to put down your weapons and surrender yourself to the Zootopia Police Department. I myself will surrender as soon as the ZPD gets here. The detention of predators at Glacier Falls is no longer in effect.” A long silence. “Goodbye, Zootopia.”

With that the loudspeakers fell silent. SPEC officers looked around nervously. Then, slowly, their paws and hooves raised into the air. The ZPD set to work, cuffs shining in the light.

“Wow…” Nick whispered as one by one, SPEC was taken in. “We did it Carrots!” He elbowed her. “We stopped Bellwether!”

Judy nodded. “But it’s not over.” She hopped over to Bogo’s car and grabbed a megaphone. “Mind if I take this, thank you,” she didn’t wait for an answer. “Alright people! Come on, this way, we’re gonna start getting this stuff sorted out...”

Later that evening, the Golden Claw was fished from the water. Not one had survived the flood.

* * *

 

The very next day, Judy led the way into ZooTech Medical Center. Six other officers followed behind her, none of them aware that this was a return trip for her.

When the elevator opened, she could see the paint on the wall showing where bullets had hit. It seemed ages ago now, leading the raid into the heart of SPEC. Now no guards were found, only a few doctors who stood there with stretchers. Funnily enough, Judy’s mission was the same this time around: getting predators out of here.

She turned to address her followers: “Remember what I told you: no one alone with a predator, keep tranquilizers trained at all times.” With a final nod from everyone, she handed out the key cards. “You and you, you’re with me, everyone else go get—”

“Hopps!”

Bogo’s voice crackled over her radio. With a single swift motion she grabbed it and responded, “Bogo, this is Hopps, over.”

“Get down to the library. We have a visitor: the Canissons’ butler.”

Judy looked about her. “Look, I’d love to be there, but I’m just about to get the predators moved. Send him… my regards?”

In the library, Bogo huffed quietly. “Alright.” He released the radio, and faced the puma before him. “I’m sorry, she’s occupied.”

They sat at what was supposed to be the reference desk at Zootech’s school library. It now served as a temporary City Hall; old paper deeds were pulled out, contracts voided and new ones signed. Officers surrounded all the entryways, scanning entrants for weapons. At the center of it all was Bogo, who had assumed the mayor’s office. A long line of people waited to speak to him, but had learned quickly that he did not tolerate interruptions out of turn.

The puma sat there, still in tuxedo and bowtie, quietly looking down at his clasped paws. When he looked up at Bogo again, his eyes had no tears, but still pain. “Can I at least see Lucas?”

“He’s in maximum security detainment. He killed several mammals,” Bogo’s eyes flicked over the butler. “Didn’t see it coming either?”

The puma shook his head. “I can look back now and see, yes, there were signs,” he gave a weak chuckle. “It’s always looking back though, that it’s all clear, isn’t it?”

Bogo nodded. “I’ve only known you and the Canissons for a short while. But if there’s anything you need, we can oblige.” With that, he pulled out a large manila folder stuffed with documents, and plopped it on his desk. “This is what I wanted to talk to you about though…”

As he opened it up the butler leaned forward, scanning leases and contracts.

“With Pierce’s death, you were next in line for his assets. And Lucas’ incarceration means his half is siezed, so… you are the sole acting owner of Canisson Pharmaceuticals.”

Bogo watched his eyes grow wide with the realization, and the jaw slightly fall open.

“Now if my memory is correct,” Bogo continued, “the brothers were working on a cure to the Night Howler toxins? I hope you would be-”

“Of course,” the puma didn’t even wait for him to finish. “I… I will make sure that the cure is completed, distributed. Pierce had told me, just a few nights ago, that they were almost done. I’ll make sure,” he nodded, “that it gets done.”

“Thank you,” Bogo handed the puma a pen. “Just need your signatures on these.” As the butler began to sign, a lingering question crept into Bogo’s mind. “After the antidote is done, what are you going to do with the company?”

He looked up. “I’m a butler, not a businessman. I’ll probably sell my stake...” a smile began to grace his lips, “...and I’ve had my eye on some beachfront property for a while.”

* * *

 

Those first few days were the hardest. Some of Bellwether’s supporters took to the streets, but gained little backing. City Hall was cleaned up. And once the cure hit Zootopia, life began to return to some sense of normalcy…

And three months later, Judy found herself guiding hundreds of mammals, predator and prey, out of Zootopia Central Grade School. Every one of them wore an “I Voted” sticker. “Thank you, have a good evening, thank you for voting,” she greeted each of them as they shuffled past.

Nick stood beside her in a cadet uniform, also greeting everyone: “Hey, nice shirt big guy, lil ma’am, don’t get trampled on your way out, oh Mrs. Houndzi! Wonderful to see you, you’re ravishing tonight!-”

“Nicholas Wilde,” Judy turned and gritted under her breath, “if you want to graduate police academy you’ve got to be more _professional_.”

“I _am_ being professional,” he said out loud. “I’m just being friendly, it’s a skill you learn when you’re trying to sucker people. Maybe you cops could learn it too?”

Judy cocked her brow and elbowed him in the arm. “You’re on a field trip, Nicky. Better behave or I’m gonna tell the teacher.”

Nick turned to her with mock fear. He had the same polar bear drill sergeant she had… and they both knew what she could do. “Alright, fine, you win Carrots.” Then with a dull voice and half-lidded eyes he addressed the crowd again: “Thank you for coming, have a nice evening, thank you for coming, have a nice evening.”

“Oh, shut up,” she laughed. “Look, the place closed half an hour ago, there can’t be many more coming, right?”

A few minutes later she was proven right. A mammal came to the door and announced, “That’s everyone! Thanks for your help!” and closed up for the night. It was a quiet drive back to Judy’s apartment; the television was still on from the morning, and the news flashed across the screen.

“-eighty percent of votes counted, and challenger Tina Gray still holds her advantage over interim mayor Idris Bogo. Representatives from Little Rodentia and the Meadowlands are already named, they are…”

“This is gonna sound really mean,” Judy sighed as she dropped her keys on her end table and sat on the bed, “but I really hope Bogo loses the election.”

“It does sound mean.” Nick replied as he sat beside her. “But I’ll say it too: I hope Buffalo Butt loses, because I can’t stand another ‘stress-relief call.’”

“Ugh, I know…” Judy pushed her palms to her eyes just to remember it. Bogo had been so used to getting his way in the police department that the fine craft of politics was… well, a little too delicate for him to grasp. At the very least he had kept things running, and was willing to go a little longer if the city needed. But Judy knew that he didn’t _really_ want to, and she _really_ didn’t care for that option either.

Speaking of, her pager rang. Even on Election Night Bogo was working. She checked the screen:

HATE CRIME - RAINFOREST DISTRICT @ ORCHID-STEAM

The words made her stomach curdle a bit. But, she was here in Savannah Central. She had no way to reach there, and other officers were stationed closer. That made eight tonight though…

Nick peered over her shoulder to read. “Hey, Hopps,” he gently pushed the pager down. “It’s alright, someone will take care of it.”

She stayed silent for a moment. “We stopped Bellwether,” she whispered. “But there’s still so much hatred out there.”

Nick said nothing at first. Then the bed creaked a bit, and she felt a handpaw on her shoulder. “You’re not gonna change everyone’s mind. But you can do enough to make a difference. Look at this,” he gestured at the TV. “Remember less than a year ago? You told me Tina got absolutely crushed in the election, and now she’s in the lead! Things got better. That’s all you can do Judy, make things a little better.”

She was about to respond when the news station interrupted her. “And the votes are updating, and… we’re calling it?” A nod “Ladies and gentlemammals, Tina Gray is the new mayor of Zootopia!” A massive cheer erupted from the studio audience, and elsewhere in her building Judy could hear the cheers from other thrilled mammals. A podium lit up before the news anchors, and they faded  into darkness as Tina stepped up to read.

“Citizens of Zootopia,” she said with a grin, “it’s an honor to address you, for the first time, as your mayor!” The audience cheered again, and Tina let them go. “Our city has seen chaos like never before in the past year. As a personal victim of that violence, I can tell you that I know how hard it’s been. But now we have a chance to start a new page in our city’s history, a chance so predator and prey may renew the covenant that binds them together. We cannot erase the scars of the past, but we may heal them and build a new city, together!”

She paused to let the crowd cheer, before continuing:

“Within the next three months, we shall guarantee the full restoration of property lost by predators during the Glacier Falls resettlement. The last vestiges of segregation, and of predator supremicism, will be hunted down and removed from Zootopia, for we have no room for such hatred in our city. Together, the council and I will guarantee safety and liberty for all good mammals of our metropolis. You have granted me your trust, and I promise I will not let you down.”

With that she stepped down from the podium. Nick suddenly started clapping too, “Woo, short speech!”

Judy couldn’t help but feel uplifted as well. She felt introspective for a moment. “Tomorrow, I think I’ll take the day off… go visit the prison.”

* * *

 

Judy turned and watched the skyline of Zootopia disappear behind a chainlink gate, and the second gate before her opened. An armed guard waved her through, and she made a beeline for the visitor center.

As she walked, she could see into the activity yard. Judy paused as she caught sight of Lucas, sitting quietly on the bench reading. He had fifteen years in here, no chance of parole. His sentence would have been longer, except that Judy herself had argued on his behalf; his brother had just died, plus he had helped them find the Golden Claw, and was instrumental in developing the Night Howler cure. In the end, he’d taken the prison deal, a decade and a half trapped behind bars.

That’s not who Judy was here to see though.

Minutes later, she was facing through reinforced glass and watching a small sheep approach the table. Judy tried to think back… as far as she could remember, this was the first time that she and Bellwether had sat face to face since she’d been hospitalized from Nick’s attack. Now things were so different...

“Dawn,” Judy nodded.

“Judy,” she nodded back. “I saw the news. Gray finally won, huh?”

“Mhm.”

“Well then. Happy ending. Come here to rub my face in it? I’ve already been humiliated…”

“No,” Judy snapped. “I’m here because I don’t want you to think for one second that it’s just ‘all better’. We mopped Hoofer’s remains out of City Hall, and we fished the bodies of the Golden Claw out of the harbor, but those people are still around. And they’re around because you let them grow strong enough to be a problem.”

Bellwether leaned forward, resting her forehead on her hoof. “Yes yes, I know. Every newspaper’s been throwing the same thing in my face for the past few months. Anything new you want to say?”

“You’re a lot less friendly when you’re not desperate, you know that?” Judy snorted. “I just have one thing to show you…”

Judy pulled out her phone, and showed a picture she’d taken of a coyote. “You know who that is?” Bellwether said nothing. “His name is Travis Lawrence. You want to know what he’s gone through? He lost his job as a nurse when you took over. He saw his candidate arrested. He sunk into despair to the point that he nearly took his own life to protest against you.”

Judy let her words sink in before continuing.

“But you know what he’s done since then? He rallied the predators at Glacier Falls. He stood up to predator supremacists. And now? He’s organizing the Rage n’ Rave parade, with city funds. Travis is going to be loved by the whole city, and you nearly killed him.

“I wanted to show you this,” Judy put her phone away, “because you didn’t conspire against the city. You conspired against millions of mammals like Travis, destroying them so you could enjoy a bigger office. Court papers can forget that sometimes, and I wanted you to think about it. I don’t think you will, but…” she silently shrugged. “Something to ponder over during your three life sentences.”

With that she stood up and began to step away. She was almost out of the room when she heard, “Judy!” The rabbit turned to look at the sheep.

Bellwether pushed her glasses up on her nose and leaned forward. “Things did not turn out well, and I regret what I did. But us sheep… you don’t know what it was like working for Lionheart. And you know how hard it was to become a police officer as a rabbit. You really mean to tell me, that you wouldn’t have tried the same thing? Just to have the chance to show them that you could be strong too?”

Judy held the door open, half in and half out of the room. She thought over Bellwether’s answer, before returning one of her own:

“I’m already secure in my own strength, Dawn. If you need to prove you’re strong by doing what you did, I don’t think you’re very strong at all.”

With that she let the door swing shut behind her. Bellwether sat alone in the room, save one guard far behind her with arms crossed. The cold tile floor waited for her to step down again. Plain white ceiling tiles loomed far above her head, and the harsh fluorescent lighting beat down on her.

Bellwether never came to the visiting room again.

* * *

  **S I L E N C E D   B Y   T H E   L A M B**

* * *

 

_A year and a half later, it’s finally done! I want to thank all of you for following this story as I pieced it together._

_I want to start with a little announcement: this will be my very last fanfiction that I write. I will now be moving on to FULLY ORIGINAL work! If you’d like to see it, follow me on Tumblr, @gouldthorpecreates. My first original novel, a science-fiction adventure, will be coming soon!_

_I want to thank Silver261, a wonderful person who ended up becoming my beta reader on this story… and ultimately, a romantic partner of mine. I would never have met him were it not for this narrative, and it means so much to me._

_Finally, I also want to thank all of you. Your feedback has been immensely helpful, and often helped me decide where and how to tweak things. It got a little messy in the middle, but I hope I’ve been able to finish strong! It’s been an honor to write for you, and you’ve helped me grow stronger as an author. I look forward to the next part of my writing journey, and I hope to see you there too._

_This is George Valtom,_ _signing off._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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